


Just You and I Against the Universe

by qualityphanter



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: M/M, Major Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), PBB, Phandom Big Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 16:34:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 24,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5097563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qualityphanter/pseuds/qualityphanter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan was taken away from his family at a young age to become a space cadet, he never seems to get the hang of it though and is renowned for messing up and somehow getting away with it. Until one day his luck runs out, dragged upstairs he fears the worst but a strange older boy with dark hair swoops in and saves him. But what secrets does this man have, and how will Dan cope with finding out the truth.<br/>This fic was written as part of the Phandom Big Bang, the art for it can be found here: http://thundersxrising.tumblr.com/post/132171302344/just-like-he-did-with-my-parents-dan-almost<br/>Thank you to my great artist (http://thundersxrising.tumblr.com/) and my beta (http://ironytot.tumblr.com/) for helping me out so much on this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

An ear splitting siren rang throughout the large room, flooding the grey plain space that was filled with rows upon rows of beds. They weren’t what anyone would perceive as comfortable beds, just a rusting metal frame which appeared that it could collapse at any moment with an old stained mattress sat on top which felt like it was mainly made out of springs. Worn out grey blankets and a thin pillow that lay haphazardly on top of the mattress provided people with some mild form of comfort.  
Pressed underneath the covers of each bed was a teenage child with pale worn out skin and deep, sunken eyes. Each had hair in a variety of hairstyles but all were as plain as the next persons. As the siren rang they each pulled themselves out of bed rubbing the sleep from their eyes, muttering angrily to themselves. They each wore the same plain grey jump suit with a number printed onto the top left hand corner and a red belt pulled around their middle, fastened with a shiny metal clip at the front. They each pulled up their covers over their beds and placed their pillows on top quickly in a military style.  
Standing up to attention with straight backs they waited in complete silence as the siren stopped ringing. Down the bottom end of the room, a large metal door opened allowing a tall man to walk down the middle. Wearing a pristine black suit, he stood out from the rest of the young people in the room. He stopped in front of one of the beds in particular with a look of disgust on his face, turning to the young boy next to the bed in question he stared deep into his eyes for a minute.  
“What is the meaning of this cadet 2009?!” He yelled at the young boy.  
The boy in question had short brown hair which sat on his head in curls, light skin and chestnut brown eyes. He was much taller than the average cadet, yet it was hard to tell through his hunched position, trying to look as small as possible.  
“Erm...sorry sir,” his voice trembled and he looked down at his bed, quickly straightening up his blanket and pillow.  
“It better not happen again, 2009!” The man yelled louder than needed, continuing on his walk down the ranks of beds.  
After he reached the end he turned on the step swiftly, and shouted a command causing all the cadets to march out into the middle and then, in two neat rows, move out of the door and into the next room. A similar looking room lay outside the door, except this one had long metal benches instead of beds, and along each side of the room was a long table with large steaming vats. Each person picked up a tray, bowl, and spoon and made their way down to the vats in neat lines, they each were given one large ladle full of green lumpy liquid into their bowl by a person in a similar grey suit behind the vats. They then sat down on the long benches and quickly ate up the food in silence with only the sound of clattering cutlery ringing throughout the large hall. On the back wall of the room was a large printed crest. It consisted of a large circular shape and around it were rings of varying sizes encircling it at odd angles, around this a few star like shapes made up the rest of the circular space that was left. Sat underneath the crest were the words “Work Hard, Live Well”.  
Cadet 2009 awkwardly tried to avoid sitting near anyone but ended up with a tall girl next to him who kept elbowing him as he tried to eat. Being the clumsy person he was, he then managed to drop his spoon on the floor, and after scrabbling underneath the table for it he rubbed it off on his sleeve and finished eating.  
The majority of people had already filed out of the room, and in a hurry to keep up with them he managed to trip over his bench and fall flat onto his face. A sharp pain shot up through his nose and into his head causing him to feel faint, but before he had time to do anything he was being pulled to his feet by two other cadets. The first thing he saw was the man in the black suit, who did not look particularly happy to say the least.  
“2009, with me!!” He hissed in frustration, face turning beet red in effort. He pushed the young boy ahead of him and to a small door on the right hand side of the room. The young boy looked back to his fellow cadets, who could merely look at him in sympathy as he was pushed out of the room.  
He found himself in a small corridor with metal doors along each side at regular intervals, but he didn’t have any time to study them as he was being constantly pushed forward by the man in the suit.  
Eventually they reached the end of the corridor and the man opened the door by placing a card against a small box on the wall next to it. “Follow me.” He said in a stern voice.  
They entered a much lighter and wider corridor, people walked along them casually and stopped and talked to each other. 2009 was in awe that they weren’t in silence and they didn’t march in long neat rows, and their clothes bore a variety of colours, some in jump suits similar to his, others in normal suits but all in bright colours. Some of the people gave him odd looks as he followed the man in the suit down the corridor but none noticed him for long before carrying on.  
Before long they reached a black door with chairs outside. “Wait,” was the simple demand he was given, so he took a seat whilst the man in the suit went into the room. The black door was infamous amongst the cadets downstairs in the Academy, lots of rumours circled about people who had been called to the room with the black door and never seen again. Of course everyone pretended not to believe these stories but every so often some poor cadet would be called up and never seen again, making everyone’s stomachs clench at the thought of this mysterious place.  
Cadet 2009's insides began to churn, as though dragons we’re having a raging war inside of him. The boy breathed slowly to try and calm himself down, taking in shuddering breaths and closing his eyes. Only then did he notice the blood running down his face from his nose, he had obviously injured himself during his fall. He put his hand up to his nose to try to stop the flow of blood but his hand just became covered in the red liquid, 2009 also started to notice the sharp pain that was shooting through his face as he became less aware of where he was.  
Before long a man came out of the door, he was also wearing a black suit and had dark hair the same colour, but pushed it to the right side in a fringe. He took a seat next to 2009 who kept his head down making sure not to make eye contact with the new man in the suit.  
“So who are you then?” he asked in a kind voice.  
“Cadet 2009 sir.” He answered still keeping his head down.  
“No your name not your number, and you are allowed to look at me.” The man said.  
The boy slowly put his head up and looked into the light blue eyes of the man “Daniel Howell, Sir.” He said.  
“Well Dan, I can call you Dan can’t I?” the man asked receiving a nod in reply “You can call me Phil no need to call me sir I hate being called it to be honest.”  
“Okay Phil” Dan said the word feeling strange on his tongue as if he was breaking all the rules he had been taught throughout his life, but at the same time it felt good to say.  
“Well Dan I have been told that you have fallen over and by looking at your nose I can see that so let’s go to get it sorted out before I have to take you in there for people to shout at you for no reason.” Phil said resting a hand on Dan’s shoulder supportively.  
Standing up Dan and Phil walked down the corridor side by side, “There is no need to march like that you know, just walk casually.” Phil said to Dan who looked at him confused.  
Slumping over Dan shuffled forward attempting not to march for the first time that he could remember. Phil smiled in appreciation of Dan’s attempt to not look like a soldier, they walked down the corridor together making people notice Dan more than before than when he was being led by the man in the suit.  
“So how did you get here then Dan?” Phil asked trying to make conversation with the quiet boy.  
“Well I was born on a small planet in sector W, my parents were very poor and couldn’t look after me so had to send me off to the space academy when I was 7 years old. It isn’t very interesting sorry, but in general my life isn’t.” Dan answered staring down at the floor.  
“I am so sorry Dan you must miss them so much.” Phil said sympathetically “And I don’t find anything you have to say boring at all there is no need to put yourself down.”  
Dan looked up at the older boy and allowed the right side of his mouth to make its way into a lopsided smile. They then came up to a white door with a large green cross printed onto it, Phil stopped and opened the door, allowing Dan to follow him into the room. Inside were a few chairs sat around the sides of the room, and a large desk with a young woman sat behind it. Phil walked confidently forward to the desk, the woman looked up at him and smiled, she wore a white shirt and her blond hair was pulled up into a tight pony tail behind her head.  
“What can I do for you sir?” she asked politely.  
“This young boy has injured his nose could you stitch him up?” Phil asked signalling towards Dan.  
The woman looked at Dan’s clothes in confusion, she was obviously not use to seeing someone in grey overalls in this part of the base. “Ermm…yeah. Just give me a minute” She walked back off through a back door looking back at Dan again taking special notice of his belt colour.  
“They don’t see many cadets up here.” Phil whispered to Dan “This place is usually only used by “high-ups” and to be honest is rarely used unlike your awful medical centre down in the academy.”  
Dan started to feel incredibly small and insignificant in the clearer much brighter area above the dark damp academy. If he got out of this still with his place he doubted he would ever see these corridors again, he decided to make the most of his time.  
Before long the woman came out of the room “He can see the doctor now.” She said to Phil, avoiding looking directly at Dan.  
“Thank you.” Phil said to the woman and leading Dan through a door on the opposite side of the room.  
Dan was faced with a small white room in the middle of which was a soft white bed sort of contraption. Stood next to this was an old man in a white coat who pulled on some purple plastic gloves before inviting Dan to sit down on the bed.  
“So I can see that your nose is bleeding, are you hurt anywhere else?” he asked in a concerned tone.  
“No I don’t think so sir.” Dan answered looking over to Phil for reassurance.  
“Okay then let’s give it a look.” The man took out a wipe and cleaned the dried blood off from around his nose, Dan winced at the pain that kept shooting up his nose.  
The doctoor pulled out a thin metal device and quickly put it into Dan's arm. Suddenly he could no longer feel the throbbing in his face, actually he couldn't feel anything. His whole body had gone numb and he was incapable of even lifting a finger.  
Next, the elderly man put a large lump of black gloopy material over Dan’s nose, the shiny surface of the gloop seemed to move as if it was alive. Listening very carefully in the silent room Dan could even have sworn that it made a buzzing noise.  
“Your nose will be better in 5 minutes.” The Doctor said “It will look as if you had never even got a scratch on it.  
He was right, after the allotted time, the substance was peeled off of Dan’s face and another metal device was thrust into his arm to allow him to feel again. His nose felt as good as new and he wouldn’t have even thought only minutes ago blood was pouring from it.  
After Dan thanked the doctor, he followed Phil back through the corridors and back towards the room with the black door. As they got closer to the room where Dan had first met Phil, he began to slow his pace wanting to savor the time he had left in the base. Phil noticed Dan’s sudden withdrawal, and pulled him to the side out of the middle of the bustling throng of people.  
“Hey it will be okay, don’t worry.” Phil laid a hand on Dan’s shoulder reassuringly “They might seem horrible and soulless, but they have their fears which sadly include me, and I won’t let them send you away or hurt your family.”  
Dan looked up at Phil with sad eyes “Thanks.” he said not really believing anyone could be scared of Phil or have power over the men in black suits.  
“Honestly Dan, you have my word.” Phil said sincerely “You are safe.”  
Looking at Phil with a bit more hope in his eyes, Dan managed to pull off half a smile towards the older man. With that Dan walked alongside Phil down the rest of the corridor with a bit more spring in his step although he still doubted he would come out of this situation okay.  
When they came up to the black door Phil reached for the handle and pushed the door open as if it was completely natural although Dan saw it as a crater to some sort of hell. Phil strolled through the door confidently and beckoned for Dan to follow him, the room that lay beyond the black door lived up to its name. The room was almost completely pitch black except for a lamp that sat on a corner of a long plain table.  
On one side of the table sat the man in the black suit, laying back in his chair he gave Dan a snarky grin as if to say he wasn’t going to make it out. Behind the man stood two men in black jumpsuits similar to Dan’s, but they bore no colour or identification numbers. Thoughts of these two men beating Dan up as the man in the black suit stood and laughed flashed through his head, but Dan managed to gulp them down and followed Phil to the table.  
“Take a seat 2009.” the man in the black suit said motioning towards a chair sat on the other side of the table. Dan slowly lowered himself into the metal chair making sure not to take his eyes off of the man. Phil drew up a seat from the side of the room and sat next to Dan which earned a strange look from the man in the black suit, although this was quickly shut down by a stern look from Phil.  
“State full name and rank.” The man said to Dan.  
“Daniel James Howell, Cadet Number 2009 of the Galactic Protection Agency Academy.” Dan recited in a monotone voice.  
“Well Howell, do you know why you have been called up here today?” The man said in a harsh voice towards the young boy.  
Dan put his head down towards the table “Yes Sir.” He replied.  
“And why is that Howell?”  
“Because I did not make my bed properly and I tripped over during breakfast.” Dan answered keeping his head down.  
“Look at me when you are talking!” the man shouted at Dan causing his head to spring up to attention “Those are some reasons, but it goes further back than today.” He then dragged a large folder from the side of the table. On the front of it was printed the Empire's crest and Dan’s details, he opened it in front of Dan and pushed the folder in front of the young boy.  
Looking at the list, Dan saw a long list of incidents dating back to when he was 12 years old, that was the year that everything bad had started to happen to him, before that he had been in the academy for 8 years but he could hardly remember anything from them. The first incident he could remember was the incident with setting the laundry room on fire when he was 12 by overloading a washing machine and putting it on the wrong setting.  
The list was also composed of other incidents such as failing all his basic skills tests when he was 14 and giving 19 people food poisoning when he was 15. They all seemed much more serious compared to just falling over and messing up his bed. Most cadets had been dragged up here for less than what he had done though, but every time Dan messed up they would just tell him off and that was the end. He once heard a guard whisper "Special circumstances" to another after he had nearly missed shooting another boy in the head during weapons practice. Although admittedly he was never scheduled to have that class again after the incident.  
"So that's it cadet 2009, you are causing us more trouble than we can cope with." The man in the dark suit said finally.  
Dan gulped and looked down at the floor. Any hope that he would get out of this situation had completely faded. He looked up at the man with tear filled eyes, then he looked over to Phil hoping that his last defence would save him. The older boy looked angry. Dan could never have imagined this sweet man boiling up in rage. His pale face had turned a light shade of red and his eyes seemed to almost bulge out of his skull.  
"Can I have a word outside?" He asked the man in the black suit politely.  
The man looked confused at him, but still agreed and followed Phil out of the room.  
Dan heard shouting and arguing coming from outside. He just wanted to be back in his usual routine back at the academy, he didn't know what was going on, it all seemed too complex.  
Eventually Phil stormed back into the room and pulled Dan up by his left arm and almost dragged him out of the room. Dan's eyes were wide with panic, it felt like Phil was almost pulling off his arm.  
Before Dan knew what was happening he was sat outside another room which Phil had gone into. He wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, but the amount of onlookers made that impossible. Actually, people appeared to be giving him more and more horrible glances in his new setting. One even came up to him and said "I am really sorry mate, I have no idea what you did but no one deserves it this bad." Dan gave the man a puzzled look as he walked off back into the mass of people travelling up and down the corridor.  
Eventually after what felt like an eternity the door opened and a small mousy looking man came out. "Your presence is required." He said to Dan.  
The small boy rose out of his seat slowly and walked through the door the mousy man was holding open for him.  
On the other side was a large office, it was well furnished and had pictures of lots of different groups of people. Behind the old wooden desk was sat a pudgy looking man, a well groomed mustache sat on the top of his lip and a pair of glasses on his nose.  
"Scrawny lad." He simply commented towards Dan.  
"Doesn't matter about that." Phil said, he was sat with his back to Dan the other side of the desk.  
"Sit down Dan." Phil invited him to sit next to him.  
Dan silently took a seat next to Phil. He had no idea who he was facing, but chances were he was very important, suddenly Dan felt the smallest he had ever.  
"So apparently you are in a bit of trouble." The man said in a bored tone.  
"Yes Sir." Dan answered simply.  
"Well you won’t be going back to the academy." He continued, Dan's heart dropped. His last chance had gone "But you will be going out with Commander Lester here as an apprentice on his next mission tomorrow morning."  
Dan suddenly perked up, he couldn't believe that after all this time of thinking he wouldn't be able to see the light of day again he was told he was being given the opportunity to actually go out on a proper mission. Images of what he might see suddenly flashed across his mind, planets, stars, and the unexplored realms of deep space.  
"But don't think you are off the hook." The man said seriously "What happens to you after this is still completely unknown."  
"Thank you Sir." Dan said gleefully, a smile reached widely across his entire face.  
With that Phil got up and opened the door for Dan to walk out the room.  
"Lester." The man said stopping Phil from leaving.  
"Yes Sir." Phil answered after Dan had exited the room and was out of earshot.  
"I don't know what is going on with you and that boy, but it is the last string I pull for him okay. I don't care about the money anymore he is old enough now to keep himself out of trouble." The man said to Phil.  
"I understand sir." Phil looked down at the floor.  
"You better." He said finally before Phil exited and joined Dan outside of the room.


	2. Where It All Changed

Phil led Dan into a large grey room which reminded him a lot of the academy but without the grey clad teenagers. A few tall lockers were set into two of the long walls and in the middle was a long bench where a few older people were sat down talking. They wore black overalls similar to Dan’s but they were much more pristine and fitted perfectly unlike Dan’s that was built to fit a rather large selection of people.  
When they saw Phil they stood up straight abruptly, one of them looked across to Dan who hid behind Phil and gave him a strange look. “This is Dan.” Phil introduced the young boy bringing him forward “He will be accompanying us. You are to treat him with equal respect to me.”  
“Yes Sir.” everyone said in unison towards Phil although some were more reluctant than others to pledge themselves to be kind towards the young recruit.  
“Let’s get you some better clothes” Phil said to Dan leading him through the cloakroom and out a small door in the back of the room on which was labelled Commander Phillip Lester on a glass plate on the door.  
Behind it was a small room with a long rail from which hung a varying selection of outfits, most of which were in a dark black colour. From the end of the pole he picked off a black jumpsuit with a tag attached over the hanger stating that is was for Daniel Howell.  
“This is for you.” Phil said handing him the hanger.  
“Thanks.” Dan said in awe at the black crisp material, he never thought he would be at this level never mind at such a young age.  
“I will be in my office.” Phil said pointing towards another door on the opposite side of the room “Cone through when you are ready. You may want to take a shower first, it is just through there.” Pointing towards a plain black door Dan walked through, looking back and smiling at Phil before disappearing.  
At first Dan didn’t recognise the shower, its large metal head with a screen underneath didn’t resemble the small cold showers downstairs. He touched the screen and water began to cascade down on top of him, pushing round a slider on the screen he was able to increase and decrease the temperature. Pressing more buttons he was able to select new options such as sweet smelling shampoo that landed on his head.  
After spending longer than he probably should have in the shower he emerged and was met with a let of warm air from the roof and walls which dried him off quickly. Dan walked back into the dressing room after wrapping a towel around himself and pulled on his new outfit. The black material felt new and clean in his hands unlike his old clothes which felt dirty even after being washed. On the right hand corner where his cadet number had originally been placed was a nice patch which in clean white sticking said ‘Daniel Howell’. Smiling at his new look in the mirror, Dan swiped his long brown hair to the left hand side as it lay flat on his head.  
Quickly he pulled on some new comfortable boots which were the first shoes probably to properly fit his feet. He walked out towards the door that Phil had disappeared through previously, behind it was a small office with a large clear desk sat in the middle. Phil looked up at Dan from behind the desk and smiled at the young boy.  
“You scrub up well Dan.” He said through a large grin “The ship is nearly packed, if there is anything that you want to take with you I can take you down to the Academy to pick it up now.”  
“Yeah I have some stuff, thank you.” Dan smiled at the other boy, Phil stood up and opened the door on the other side of the office and walked out into another white corridor.  
Dan didn’t know how he could find his way around this place, there seemed to be endless identical corridors that snaked around the base. The academy had a much smaller layout with a few large rooms that connected without long corridors, there was just the sleeping areas, eating hall and training rooms. There was no need for separate offices and personal bathrooms, they shoved as many people into one area as possible and even more than that.  
They eventually reached a grey door with a red cross marked on the front, Dan gulped at the thought of going back down to the Acadmey. Only a few hours he would have given anything to be allowed to go back downstairs to the place that he called home for 11 years. Now he thought that if he went back through the door that he would be locked back into the dark lair for the rest of his life.  
Phil put a reassuring hand on the young boys shoulder and guided him through the door, the small corridor on the other side of the door meant that Dan had to walk behind Phil.  
“I haven’t been down here in a while I must say.” Phil said to Dan “And even then I didn’t spend long down here and have never really had time to learn my way around it so you will have to guide me.”  
Dan didn’t answer as he slipped back into his basic programing of staying silent as he was taught to since he first joined the Academy. Phil could feel the nerves flying off of Dan and felt completely hopeless, how could he help this young boy that he had only known for a few hours and already turned his life upside down?  
He stopped and turned to face Dan underneath one of the lamps that hung from the ceiling. “You know Dan I am incredibly sorry for what has happened to you today I really am and I feel responsible for messing your whole life up. I know just saying that isn’t enough but if you need to talk I am a great listener.”  
Dan looked up at Phil allowing him to see Dan’s tear stained face “Thank you Phil, and you haven’t messed my life up. You have saved me from this place and have been the kindest person I have spoken to in a long time.”  
Phil smiled at his new friend, they stood there in silence for what felt like an eternity before Phil broke the eye contact and opened the door to his left. “Ready?” he asked.  
“Yeah it is only a quick stop to get my stuff.” He smiled at Phil, but both of them knew that given the chance he would run back out as fast as his legs could carry him.  
Phil walked confidently forward and his persona changed from the loving man to the harsh strict commander. The speed at which Phil could change scared Dan and he hoped that he would never get on the wrong side of him. Dan followed feeling weak and very uncomfortable in his new clothes.  
They came out into the dining room which was full of cadet’s receiving a meal, Dan looked up at the large clock on the wall and knew that they would be in here for another half an hour meaning that he would have to walk through the room twice hoping that none of them would notice him. Although this hope was fruitless as his black uniform didn’t allow him to blend into the surroundings, but quite the opposite and made him stick out even more than usual. Phil pulled him to his side whilst still walking along confidently.  
“Don’t look at them, stand up straight and pretend you own the place.” He whispered into Dan’s ear.  
Dan followed his advice and tried to copy Phil’s style but to no avail as he still dragged curious eyes from across the room with him and the whisper of 2009 seemed to follow him like a lost puppy.  
A guard stopped them and saluted to Phil “Sir.” He said in a robotic voice.  
“I am here with young Daniel to pick up some of his things” Phil said to the guard who turned to look at Dan. The guard recognised the young boy who only a few hours ago had fallen over in this very room and been dragged upstairs thought to never return, the fact that he was now back downstairs was strange enough never mind that we was accompanied by Commander Phil and dressed in a high rank uniform.  
“Is there a problem soldier?” Phil asked in an impatient tone.  
“No not at all Commander Phil Sir.” He answered quickly moving out of the way, upon reflection he knew that he should have checked with 'up top' first, but in the moment all he wanted was to get out of the way.  
Phil smiled down at the man and motioned for Dan to follow him down to the end of the room, when they reached the large double doors, Phil got one of the guards to open one of them for them both to go through. The other side of the door was the large room full of rows of beds that Dan had known for years, he had never seen the room completely empty though, and the silence that echoed through the room was almost deafening.  
Dan walked quickly up to his old bed and opened the drawers next to it, he went through everything but didn’t take anything out of it. He then got down on his knees and pushed his hands underneath the rusting bed, he pulled out a small metal box about the size of a shoebox and put it under his arm. Smiling at Phil he began to walk back out of the room wanting to get out of the place as fast as he could before they locked him in again.  
Phil half ran to catch up with the young boy “Keeping things under your bed, I am sure that is against some sort of rule not that I am going to report you or anything, how did you hide it though?”  
“Loose floorboard” Dan answered in a monotone voice continuing to walk at a fast rate out of the door and back through the dinner hall. The dinner hall was still busy with cadets, but hardly any paid attention to Dan as he almost ran through the hall and out of the door with Phil attempting to keep up. He didn’t stop when he went through the corridor either, hugging his box tightly to his chest and resting his chin on the old metal surface.  
When he reached the end door he stopped so abruptly Phil almost walked into the back of him, he stood there breathing heavily with tears beginning to fall down his face. From behind, Phil rested a hand on Dan’s right arm and gently turned him around to face him.  
“I am not going to ask what is in the box, but I need to make sure you are okay, because we can’t go out there with you in this state. If they think you are weak in the slightest way, which I am not saying you are, they will rip you to shreds before you can open your mouth.” Phil said sternly to the young boy, Dan just looked back wide eyed.  
Phil then pulled out a tissue from the inside pocket of his clothes and handed it to Dan, he took it reluctantly and dried his face as well as he could whilst still gripping his box tightly. He then tried to smile up at the older man, but no facial expression could cover the hurt that he was feeling internally. Reaching behind Dan, Phil opened the door back out to the white corridor he then gave Dan one last smile before walking out. Taking a deep breath, Dan followed Phil still clutching desperately at the box, the corridor was much emptier now than it had been before, but there was still a large number of people milling about.  
Phil walked confidently through the corridor followed by Dan who decided that walking alongside right now was not the best idea. They seemed to weave in and out of the building and Dan could have sworn they were walking in circles, but Phil didn’t falter for a minute until they reached a large black door. Stopping just outside, Phil allowed Dan to draw up next to him.  
“Right this is the part where you have to follow everything I say. I doubt you will have much trouble with it, but don’t stare at anyone and keep your head down.” He said turning towards the frightened young boy and resting a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?” he asked in a concerned tone.  
Dan just nodded in reply trying to stop tears from welling up in his eyes again. Phil then pushed open the door and walked through, slipping into his commander persona once again. Following him, Dan tried to blend in, not wanting to be noticed by the high-ups.  
The room he was faced with, Dan wouldn’t have imagined in his wildest dreams or nightmares for that matter. A large warehouse seemed to stretch back for miles, it was filled with row upon row of various spacecraft’s. They were stood on a metal balcony that overlooked the hanger, people dressed in all black ran around other balconies and the floor of the room like little ants running backwards and forwards.  
Phil carried along the balcony meaning Dan had to almost run to catch up after he had taken in the awe of the place, he didn’t want to lose the only person who he knew in this massive building as he feared he would never find his way out again. They went down a few staircases at the end of the walkway to a much lower level, they then continued along the hanger towards a spacecraft which was being loaded with large boxes.  
“This one is ours.” Phil told Dan in his monotone voice.  
Dan just stared at the ship in awe, never before had he seen something so big, he presumed he had come to the Academy on a spaceship of some sort, but he had no memory of it. The large metal shell was shiny and new, it was painted a dark black colour and bore the crest of the Empire on the side. Large thrusters on the back were over three times Dan’s height, he imagined being stood behind one when it was at full power and how he would be atoms within seconds. Phil walked up to the run way into the ship where the people Dan had met earlier in the dressing room where stood to attention in a neat line in black overalls similar to Dan’s.  
As Phil approached they all saluted him in unison as if they were the same person, Dan suddenly felt the most out of place he had done all day which, after considering what he had been through, was saying something. Phil then went and stood at the end of the line furthest away from the ship and motioned for Dan to stand between him and a young woman with dark brown hair pulled up neatly in a ponytail.  
After standing there for what felt like ages, an old man approached the ship’s crew, his face bore a long scar from his nose down to his chin that was obviously almost as old as him. He wore a dark suit with a set of medals pinned to his chest and walked proudly up to the line of people. When he got close enough they all saluted him in unison even Phil, eventually Dan had found someone more important than his new mentor. Dan tried to mimic their salutes, but was behind them all and messed up the neat line of people, he began to worry that he had attracted this man’s attention too much and started to turn red in embarrassment.  
The man stopped in front of Dan and eyed him suspiciously, Dan began to sweat even more and was on the brink of tears as the man began to speak. “Is this the boy?” he asked Phil in a deep voice.  
“Yes Sir.” Phil answered staring straight ahead.  
“I hope you will be able to whip him into shape before he comes back.” He said in a disappointed tone. “That’s if he makes it.”  
With that last line Dan suddenly got the urge to run back out of the hanger, but at the same time couldn’t bring himself to move from his spot. The man then continued along the line till he reached the end and stopped in front of the walkway and turned around to face them all.  
“You are faced with a great mission ahead, although you might see it as just routine. Every time one of our ships sets off out there, we are making ourselves known, making the Universe recognise us, and we must show it what we are and what we are capable of. Go out there and be the best that we can be” The man then walked off back out of the hanger leaving the long line of crew by themselves.  
When he had got far enough away, Phil walked up into the spacecraft followed by the rest of the crew, Dan didn’t know if he was meant to follow or not and ended up awkwardly stood outside the spacecraft before deciding to run up after everyone.


	3. To Adventure

When Dan entered the spacecraft the first thing he was faced with was a long corridor, he sighed, ever since he had left the academy it was just corridor after corridor with various rooms coming off it and they all looked exactly the same. He decided to turn left as that is where the main body of the spacecraft was.  
The roof wasn’t particularly high meaning that he had to almost crouch down in some places so that he didn’t hit his head. Whilst trying to not cause damage to himself someone ran into him.  
“Oi, watch it mate!” A young girl with short blue hair shouted up at him, her uniform was neat like Dan’s, but looked a lot more worn out and her boots had a lot of scuff marks. She also wore a blue band around her right arm and a pouch around her middle which contained various devices and tools.  
“I am so sorry.” Dan apologised to her, she began to walk away, but before she did Dan stopped her “Hey you don’t know where Phil is?” He asked.  
“Commander Phil is up at the flight deck preparing for take-off just like the rest of us.” She answered “You are his new pet aren’t you?” she asked almost spitting out the word ‘pet’ at him.  
“Ermm…” Dan said not sure how to respond to that.  
“Well you aren’t the first and you aren’t special so just keep out of the way till this is over and don’t mess it up.” She continued in disgust at Dan.  
The girl then ran off quickly in the other direction leaving Dan alone in the corridor. He gulped at the girl’s statement, maybe he was useless and was just Phil’s pet as she had put it. He decided that he would just keep his head down for now and not go looking for Phil as he was probably busy.  
Engines began to rumble from underneath him like the sound of a thousand lions roaring at the same time, the sound dampened down as the door that Dan had entered from began to close. In a swift mechanical motion, the slope folded up allowing the entrance that Dan had come through only a minute ago, become one with the ship.  
Realising that the ship would be in the air soon, Dan swiftly walked through the corridor looking for somewhere to sit during the take off. At the end of a corridor was a large opening to what looked like the control room, he couldn’t see it very well, but there appeared to be some sort of control panel in the middle and a large window in front of it. He saw a quick glance of Phil’s shoulder as he ran around hitting various controls.  
The girl with the blue hair pushed past him from behind followed by a boy with dark jet black hair, both of them went into the control room and disappeared behind the corner. Dan continued to slowly walk towards the room scared of not knowing where he was meant to be and messing everything up. Then he saw Phil turn around and look at him from the control panel, he beckoned for the young boy to come to him whilst shouting something at another crew member that Dan couldn’t see from his position.  
Filled with much more confidence that he was meant to be there, he walked towards the control room trying to stand up straighter, but hitting his head on the ceiling. He rubbed his head and looked up to see if anyone had seen him, but they were running around and too busy to pay any attention to him.  
As he got into the control room he could see the control panel a lot more clearly, it was in a long curved shape and stood at the front of the room and on its surface, were a few screens and various flashing buttons. Phil moved around it swiftly knowing exactly what to press and when, his movements mesmerised Dan who just stood in awe at the dark haired man.  
“Stay the fuck away from him” someone whispered to him, when he turned around to see who it was they were gone, but he guessed it was the girl with the blue hair recognising her voice.  
Phil walked over to the young boy and rested a hand on his left shoulder and turned him around guiding him to the back of the room quickly. There was a row of seats there with complicated harnesses on them. Phil pushed Dan into the end one and pulled the harness over his head and fastened it swiftly in one movement.  
“You will like this.” Phil smiled up at the young boy. “I will give you the tour once we are stably flying but until then stay here and don’t listen to anyone who is mean to you, they can be a tricky bunch.” With that Phil was walking across the room back to his control panel, he shouted various directions at different crew members.  
They then all started to climb into their seats starting the furthest away from Dan as they could, eventually there was only one seat left right next to him which a young girl with dark brown hair lowered herself into and did up her harness. Dan strained his neck to try to see where Phil was.  
“He is sat at the front of the ship.” The girl with the brown hair told him kindly “Don’t worry he isn’t that far away but he has to drive or we would be in a bit of a pickle.”  
“Thanks.” Dan said to her smiling hoping that this girl would be much nicer than the last crew member he had spoken too.  
He was about to ask the girl what her name was, but before he had chance to open his mouth his face was hit with a massive force pushing down on him. His whole body was thrust back into his seat and his eyes opened wide with fear. He almost forgot to breathe as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Streaks of light ran over the window as they accelerated, the whole craft shuck so much that he was surprised that it hadn’t ripped itself apart.  
But it was over before he had time to properly readjust himself, the rate of acceleration slowed as they began to travel at a constant speed. He looked around to the rest of the crew with a face full of excitement and was almost disappointed to see that they had faces of near boredom at the experience.  
“The first time is always the best.” The girl sat next to him said “Sadly the awe of it all wears off after a while, but we all remember the thrill of the first time.”  
Dan tried to collect his thoughts in order to reply, but was still breathless from his experience.  
“The name's Katie.” the girl said extending an arm towards Dan.  
“Dan” he said trying to move his arm through his harness to shake her hand, he managed to reach hers and lightly grasp it, but was incapable of actually moving it in his position.  
Katie laughed at him trying desperately to move, Dan smiled back at her. “How about I just owe you a handshake after we are out of these contraptions.”  
“Good by me.” Katie answered smiling towards Dan.  
Before long, a long beeping sound rang out across the room, the crew then unclipped their harnesses as quickly as possible and got out of their seats.  
“Get those checks done people!” Phil yelled from the front of the ship, this caused them all to start running around in various directions, most exited the main control room but the few that stayed where noting down readings off various dials.  
Phil walked down from the top of the control room and up to Dan’s seat, he then began to tug at his harness much less capable than before.  
“Sorry about this, but they are much harder to take off from this angle without releasing the fast release catch.” He smiled up at Dan whilst resting his right elbow on Dan’s leg and pulling at the straps.  
“It's fine, is there anything I can do to help?” Dan asked awkwardly trying to figure out the contraption around his middle.  
“No it’s fine these things aren’t easy.” Phil answered pulling out one last strap allowing Dan to be set free “There I got it.”  
Phil stood up and offered an outstretched hand to Dan who took it allowing the older boy to pull him to his feet and out of his chair.  
“Thanks.” Dan said to Phil staring right into his pale blue eyes.  
“That’s okay.” Phil said keeping eye contact with the brown haired boy staying incredibly close to Dan so that their noses almost touched. After what seemed like hours he finally broke the eye contact and turned back to the control panel, he then started to walk towards one of the exits.  
Dan ran to catch up with him, not sure whether he should follow or not but wanted to stay close encase he bumped into the girl with the blue hair again.  
“Right, tour time.” Phil said to Dan whilst avoiding eye contact, it seemed to Dan that Phil was trying to hide his face from him but he couldn’t be sure.  
First the two boys headed down the corridor that Dan had entered the control room from. Dan hadn’t paid the area much attention the first time he had been in it but looking at it more closely he could see that the corridor resembled a large pipe with a flat bottom and the rounded sides had a variety of different lights on them. As they walked the metal underfoot clanged with every footfall echoing back along the course of the long corridor.  
Occasionally coming off where doors that almost blended in completely with the sides of the corridor unless you were looking for the joins where they would slide open. Phil pointed out the first door they came across.  
“That is the maintenance room, you will never need to go in there and it is probably best you stay away unless you want Izzy to hate you.” Dan wasn’t sure who Izzy was but being her enemy didn’t sound particularly desirable.  
They came across a few more doors along that stretch of corridor that were mainly pointed out as dorm rooms of different crew members, they appeared to be about 4 to a small room, Dan wondered who he would be shoved in with, or maybe he would be able to be with Phil. At the end of the corridor they turned a corner into another one that looked almost identical, if it went on like this Dan wasn’t sure how he would ever be able to find his way around the ship.  
One of the doors they came across was the entrance to the dinner hall, Phil opened it by placing his hand in front of a small grey panel situated to the right of the door, the metal panel then slid back from left to right into the wall so that only an opening was left. Dan followed the older boy into the large room that lay beyond. It had a low ceiling that matched that of the corridor outside but it was long in length. The walls where a matt grey colour and long lights hung from the ceiling giving the dark room some light. Underneath these lights were four tables with benches, not dissimilar to those Dan was used to back at the academy, the room was currently empty of people but Dan imagined it would be full at meal times going by the amount of people he had seen on the ship already. At the back of the room there were holes cut into the wall which Dan presumed would serve as serving hatches come meal time.  
“You are welcome to come into here whenever you want” Phil told Dan “If you are ever hungry all you need to do is pick up any snacks from here” He said pointing towards some metal containers which contained packets of foods Dan had never seen before “then put them in this and scan your hand on that” Phil pointed to a small metal basket and another grey panel respectively.  
Dan nodded to show he understood, he was more preoccupied by trying to work out what a small red packet with a few brown circles from the snack box was. “Can I have this?” he asked.  
“Go for it.” Phil replied smiling as Dan placed the packet in the basket and scanned his hand. “At mealtimes you will also have to scan your hand after collecting your lunch from the hatches.” Phil continued “It’s all really to check everyone is eating the right amount of everything.”  
Dan was already stuffing the small chocolate covered balls into his mouth from the packet he had just taken and wasn’t really paying attention but nodded anyway politely.  
The two boys then walked back out of the dinner room and continued into the corridor, Dan was shown more rooms that he wasn’t allowed in and a few that he might be with supervision. He was getting tired after his long day and just wanted to sleep but he found himself listening to every one of Phil’s words intently as if his life depended on the knowledge.  
“And this is my office.” Phil proudly told Dan opening the door and stepping inside “I spend most of my time here so if you ever need to find me this is your best bet.”  
The small rooms walls suddenly started displaying the crest of the government, Dan guessed that they were screens, although he couldn’t see why one person would need so many he didn’t question it. The room had a swivel chair in the corner which sat behind a table, Dan imagined Phil’s tall figure sat there hard at work as the universe shot by past the small window behind him.  
Next door to Phil’s office was his room, Dan felt his heart sink as he saw there was only a single bed in the small room, he was going to have to share with some strangers, not that Phil wasn’t a stranger thinking about it but he still seemed a lot safer with the older boy.  
Their tour was soon at an end, and Dan still didn’t know where he was going to sleep, maybe Phil was saving it to last so he could dump him in a room and then leave him.  
Eventually they came across a door in a back corridor, Dan presumed it was another secret room that Dan was allowed to know existed just so he knew not to go in.To his surprise Phil opened the door and entered the small room. Inside was a small bed set into the wall, next to which was a small cupboard. The floor was so small that is was almost non-existent, but behind the bed was a large window that looked out into the black abyss of space. From the tour Dan had found out that windows where a rare thing on the ship, they weren’t really needed and where only in a few rooms, like Phil’s office, if the room was often occupied by someone important.  
“I know it is very small.” Phil said awkwardly “But this is your room, as you were such a late addition we had to put you in here.”  
Dan walked in, his face full of awe, he had never had a room all to himself before and all the rooms back at the academy where so big that a small room all to himself was just what he needed.  
“Thank you.” He stuttered with a tear in his eye “It is perfect.”  
“I thought you would like it, this used to be my room when I first started going out on missions.” Phil said sitting down on the bed. “I was very young and they converted an old broom cupboard for me.”  
The window suddenly made sense to Dan, chances where Phil had a very rich family and that meant that he had manage to secure himself a window and a big one at that. Dan suddenly felt connected to the older boy, they were both flung into this at a young age and both appreciated the view of the outside universe.  
Dan gently sat down on the bed next to Phil and put down his box that he had been carrying since he had got on the ship next to him. He looked up at the older boy and smiled not only with his mouth but his whole face seemed to radiate the happiness that he was feeling.


	4. Songs from Home

Phil led Dan back into the control room which was not completely empty, the sound of the crew laughing could be heard coming from the break room.  
“So that’s it then.” Phil said to the younger boy smiling.  
“Thanks.” Dan said avoiding eye contact by looking down at the floor, he didn’t want Phil to notice how tired he was.  
“Hey watch this.” Phil said pushing Dan’s chin up so that he was looking straight at him, Phil then ran up to the top of the control panel and pushed a few dials. The room then began to darken and soon became near pitch black, but then small lights started to appear in the middle of the room. The lights began to group together and move as if they were alive, eventually they formed a spherical shape.  
Dan looked up at the lights in awe, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at but it was very beautiful, the gold coloured surface seemed to shift and move in spiralling shapes. He stepped up further into the room so that he was close enough to almost touch the hologram.  
Phil appeared from behind him and spoke softly into his ear “That is where you come from it is called Glotheen, go on touch it.”  
Dan looked up at the dark haired boy smiling, and then turning back to the image of his home planet he reached out slowly and touched its surface. The hologram rippled from around where he touched it, and then he began to move his hand around in a swirling pattern moving the shimmering surface so that it flowed in spiralling shapes.  
“What is spiralling stuff?” Dan asked almost in a whisper as if he was scared to disrupt the silence of the room.  
“That is the atmosphere; it is rich in sulphur gas which is beautiful, but highly deadly.” Phil answered, he rested his left hand on Dan’s shoulder and leaned around the boy and swirled up the atmosphere with his finger.  
“So how do people breathe down there?” Dan asked concerned for his parents.  
“That’s the best part.” Phil said moving in front of Dan “The people of this world have evolved over time and are able to actually live in that atmosphere, anyone else that goes to visit them has to wear whole body suits and gas masks.”  
“So I can breathe that air then?” Dan asked, Phil nodded in reply “Wow that is... AWSOME!"  
“Yeah it is.” Phil smiled at Dan “There are very few people in the multiverse that are capable of doing that, you are pretty special Dan no matter what you think.”  
Dan just stared at his home planet in awe, and then he started to think of his parents down there all alone. He couldn’t even really remember seeing them, he was ripped from his family at a young age, he wasn’t even meant to have contact with them until their debt had been payed off.  
He could feel the tears beginning to well up in his eyes. Would he ever see his parents again? Would he ever be allowed to so much as send them a letter?  
“Hey you okay mate?” Phil asked, Dan snapped out of his trance “You have been spaced out for ages.”  
“Yeah I am fine.” Dan sniffled out, his voice was raw and his face was awash with silent tears, he couldn’t keep it in any more. He broke down in tears and fell to the floor in a heap, covering his face with his hands to try to block out everything as he pulled his knees to his chest.  
Phil crouched down slowly to the boy and pushed his hand through his hair “Dan listen to me.” He said gently “As soon as this is over I am taking you home, don’t worry about the council. I have a lot of power over them and they can’t touch me and that means that your family is safe.”  
Dan could hear Phil’s calming voice, but the words weren’t sinking in, he just wanted to be home now. He then felt his head being lifted up and rested on what was probably Phil’s knee, cradling Dan’s head Phil started to softly sing.

In the beginning it was easy  
But this is where it all changed  
To adventure we went  
But the songs from home kept you safe  
I taught you all I knew  
And you shared with me too  
But I was lying all along  
But you listened to my song  
I lay waiting at night  
I asked you not to leave me behind  
I saved you every time  
Until it was just you and I  
Against the Universe

When Phil’s song gently came to a rest it was as if the whole universe had turned silent, Dan could feel Phil’s stomach rising and falling and allowed himself to mimic the older boy's breathing. After what felt like an eternity Dan rose up his head and looked at Phil in the eye, their faces were so close that Dan could feel Phil’s gentle breathing on his skin. He didn’t want the moment to end and started to lose himself in Phil’s pale blue eyes as if he was swimming through a gentle sea.  
Banging coming from the corridor broke the silence and Phil quickly stood up and pulled Dan’s arm with him. Just as Dan had regained his footing the girl with the blue hair entered through the flight deck door, she smiled sweetly at Phil before noticing Dan’s hunched over shape cowering behind him, her face then quickly turned to a scowl.  
Facing down at the floor she quickly walked over to a panel on one of the walls and began to type in various commands making notes of the results on to the large square device she was carrying in her arms. Phil quickly turned off the hologram of Dan’s home planet with a flick of his wrist and jumped down the stairs towards where the girl with the blue hair was working.  
Dan suddenly felt out of place again and unwanted so decided to return to his room for a while.  
Sitting on the small bed in a room that felt even smaller Dan stared out of his tiny window at the Universe passing by. Currently they weren’t going too fast so the view was mostly empty blackness with the occasional light of a star far in the distance puncturing the abyss.  
He then turned his mind back to Phil, what was this strange young man meant to be to him. His captain? His friend? Or maybe so much more. Emotions of love and hate ran throughout his veins, ripping through his heart and tearing it to shreds. Some part of him wanted to be back in the academy where it was so much easier, all he had to worry about was what horrible task would be thrown at him next, cleaning out the toilets or eating their excuse for food. But now he had left the safety net and was flying free, all the times he had dreamed of doing so hadn’t felt like this.  
Whether he liked it or not he was still tied to the government and was still their pawn, the only difference now was that he was visible to them, not just one of the other poor kids that had been forced into the academy. Phil wouldn’t be able to protect him forever. Did he even believe that Phil would be able to protect him at all or for that matter, want to? He had only met the boy yesterday and although he was good at talking and making himself look important, Dan was beginning to doubt how true that really was.  
Before long, Dan’s head began to ache at everything he was trying to comprehend, it was then that he realised he hadn’t slept last night and his tiredness started to creep over him until he could barely hold up his head anymore. Eventually he managed to crawl under the cover of his bed and drifted off to sleep as the universe sped past his window.


	5. All I Knew

The morning welcomed him with a high pitched whirring sound, not too dissimilar from that back in the academy. Dan groggily sat up and rubbed his head, he then tried to roll off the beds right side but was stopped when a wall got in his way. Confused he looked around at his surroundings, after a minute of complete confusion he remembered where he was and the events of the past 48 hours came flooding back to him like a shockwave.  
He then allowed his head to drop back down onto his pillow, for the first time that he could remember someone wasn’t going to come and scrutinise the state of his bed only minutes after he had woken up. Dan was going to have his first ever lie in and after missing so many teenage years of this he decided to make it a good one.  
This fantasy was short lived though as he was awoken again half an hour later by someone knocking on his door. Pulling himself out of bed and to the door was an easy feat as he hardly had to move due to the room being so small.  
When the door slid open Dan’s heart almost skipped a beat as he thought it was Phil stood there waiting for him, but instead it was Katie smiling at him. Her uniform was neatly pressed and didn’t seem to have a wrinkle in sight, her hair was tied back into a perfect bun and her face was one who had been awake for hours. Dan in his messy uniform that he had slept in and his dishevelled Hobbit Hair was the opposite of this.  
“Phil said to let you lie in for a bit, but breakfast is nearly over and I don’t think you want to miss it, sorry for waking you.” She said quietly.  
“That’s okay, I am really hungry anyway.” Dan answered pulling himself off of the side of his bed and pulling on his boots. He looked down at his messy clothing and up at Katie.  
“There is a clean uniform in the wardrobe; I can take you to the shower first though if you want.” She offered.  
“Thanks.” Dan said following her down the corridor.  
After cleaning himself and putting on fresh clothes he came to the canteen, it was very empty as he presumed that everyone had already eaten and were busy with their day. Dan picked up a bowl and poured cereal and milk into it before sitting down at one of the tables with Katie.  
“Did you sleep well?” she asked whilst sipping a glass of orange juice.  
“Yes I did thanks.” He answered “It was like sleeping on a marshmallow compared to my bed back at the academy.”  
“Yes those beds are pretty nasty.” Katie laughed.  
Dan gave her a puzzled look that she actually knew about the beds, usually people who graduated from the academy didn’t usually get a job on an actual ship.  
“Did you go to the academy?” Dan asked hoping that he wouldn’t annoy Katie with the question.  
“Yes I did.” Katie answered confidently “let's just say I was a special case, sort of like you in a way.”  
“So you mean after this I could have an important job like you on a ship and everything?” Dan asked excitedly.  
“Anything is possible.” Katie laughed finishing her breakfast “You ready to go?”  
Dan nodded in reply; the two of them stood up and walked over to a counter where they distributed their plates. Behind the counter was a woman with a sour look on her face.  
“Who was she?” Dan asked out of curiosity.  
“An old friend, she didn’t exactly get the same chance as me” She answered, quickly she flipped the conversation around “It isn’t just us on the ship you know, we have a cook and a couple of cleaning staff but they usually keep themselves to themselves.”  
“What crew are there on the ship then?” Dan continued.  
“Well we have the engineers; they usually wear a blue arm band, the head engineer has bright blue hair you can’t miss her, she isn’t always the nicest person but she knows these ships better than anyone. Then you have the pilots, this ship is mostly automated but there are people who are expert pilots and take over when it is a bit too tricky for the computer to handle and needs that personal touch, Commander Phil is one of them and is the best pilot in this quadrant and probably the universe. Lastly there are people like me; we are the ones who know everything there is to know about the mission. We can talk a lot of different languages, know the area very well and are experts at inter-race relationships.” Katie seemed very proud of her role on board the ship.  
“Wow that all sounds pretty cool.” Dan said trying to think of where he would fit into all of this.  
“Yeah it is.” Katie continued “Phil has told me to look after you today and show you what we will be doing on this mission and such.” She stopped outside a door and placed her hand on a panel outside causing it to open and allow both of them to enter.  
On the other side of the door was a large glass table, the sides of the room where screens that suddenly came to life as the two entered the room.  
“Access mission records 2010” Katie announced causing the screens to start to display maps and documents of information.  
“So this isn’t a particularly important mission” Katie began “It is just a bit of inter-planet relationships, we are going to one planet in particular which only has a few life forms, none of which are intelligent and aren’t usually concerned with us. It is just a routine inspection to make sure they are all okay and to do some planet checks.”  
Katie pulled out a small device from a draw in the room, it was gun like in shape but had a glass cylinder attached to the back “We use this to take soil samples, it fires into the ground and stores the sample in this tube, we take loads of these and they go back to the labs when are at base.”  
Dan took it from her when she offered it, it was heavier than the thought it would be; he couldn’t believe that he was actually holding a contraption that took soil from alien planets. He reluctantly gave the device back to Katie and started to study the information that was rotating around the room as she put it away.  
In the middle of the holograms was a large image of a red planet, he reached out cautiously to touch the transparent surface. Under closer inspection he could see that the surface was rocky and had extremely high mountains and extremely low gorges. He wondered what type of life resided on that planet, was he actually going to see alien life?  
“That is where we are going.” Katie said stepping behind Dan “It is called Kathiteen-alpha and is a medium sized rocky planet found in the goldilocks zone of the two stars K-98 and K-72.”  
“Wow!” Was all that Dan could say staring up at the hologram in awe. “What life lives there?” he asked.  
“The Katherneeting’s are the main species found on the planet, there are also reports of smaller micro-organisms developing there but it will be thousands of years till they evolve enough for the government to recognise them.” Katie answered confidently.  
“So what are they like then?” Dan asked pining for more information.  
“They are considered a lifeform of low intelligence” Katie continued walking round the holograms looking for something “They have never left their planet and evolved there about 500 years ago, they live in small communities of around 200ish and rarely leave these and interact with other ‘tribes’”  
Katie pulled out a hologram and swept the rest away allowing her to enlarge an image of a small creature. It had mossy green skin and bright yellow eyes which seemed to pierce through Dan even as a hologram. Its round face was made up mainly of a massive mouth, in which where rows upon rows of razor sharp yellowed teeth. The creature had three long, thin arms that hung down the sides and back of its body so that the knuckles of its 6 fingered hands dragged across the ground. Its main body was small and pudgy and almost the same size as it’s head. Lastly the legs of the creature where less than half the size of its arms and had elongated feet at the bottom.  
Dan looked at the creature with awe, if anyone had shown a child a picture of one they would have been struck with terror but Dan couldn’t keep his eyes off of it. Just to think that this was a real life form out there that was actually living on another planet and most of all they were going to go and see it.  
“You like?” Katie asked jokingly, Dan only nodded in reply, starstruck at the creature.  
“Well they might look interesting but they can be dangerous” Katie continued “They are violent and will just see anyone as a means of food; their rows of teeth mean they can rip out your throat without a second thought.”  
Dan gulped; maybe he didn’t want to meet them that much afterall.  
“But we are all safe, they are highly allergic to garlic so whenever anyone goes down onto the surface we cover ourselves in the smell of it which is enough to deter them.” Katie showed Dan a canister which he presumed contained this smell. “And if we are in a big enough group they will see us as a threat they cannot handle and will leave us alone.”  
“Thank you.” Dan said grinning.  
“That’s okay.” Katie replied smiling at Dan’s amazement at the whole thing, eventually someone actually understood the importance of her job.  
The door suddenly opened and all the screens quickly flickered down to their default screen saver of the government’s emblem. Phil came in; he was dressed in a bright coloured t-shirt, jeans and trainers. Dan gave him an odd look, he had never seen someone in casual clothing like this before and was confused at his clothing as being standard uniform.  
“How are you doing Dan?” He asked leaning on the wall with his hip and right arm, he crossed over his legs whilst smiling at the younger boy.  
“Good thanks.” Dan said averting his eyes to look at the floor “Katie has showed me loads of stuff about the mission.” He perked up remembering the last hour he had spent learning and looked at the dark haired girl.  
“That’s great” Phil continued walking over towards the pair, he placed his hand on the table which caused them to spurt into life again and planet holograms came whizzing around his head. “How about after dinner I show you some other stuff about the galaxy.” he said smiling at Dan whilst moving around the holograms with his hands and picking out certain planets and stars.  
“Yeah maybe” Dan said reluctantly “Don’t you have to work though, I don’t want to get in your way, and you have even changed your uniform so you must be doing something important.”  
Phil laughed at the confused boy “This is my casual wear Dan, I don’t have anything to do for a bit because it is going to take a while to get anywhere where we can actually do anything so I might as well do something useful with my time.”  
“Okay then.” Dan said.  
“So how about us three go and get some dinner then.” Phil smiled at the two, turning towards the door to leave the room.  
“I actually have some stuff to do first.” Katie spoke up after being silent since Phil entered the room.  
“Looks like it is just us then Dan” Phil said walking out of the room; Dan followed turning back to Katie before leaving.  
“Thanks really this was really fun.” Dan said to Katie.  
“Anytime Dan” she smiled.  
Dan found himself back in the dining room sat opposite Phil with a plate of pasta in front of him. The girl with the blue hair had come in behind them into the dining room and had sat on the table behind them. Dan could feel her eyes burrowing sharply into his back as he tried to eat his pasta as quick as possible to stop being stuck between the head engineer and the ship’s captain.  
“Hey Izzy why don’t you come and sit with us” Phil called over to someone behind Dan, his heart skipped a beat for a minute, was Phil inviting the head engineer to sit with them? Or was it someone else? He wished it was someone else, but part of him knew that it wasn’t going to go his way.  
“Sure okay.” A voice replied Dan’s heart sank after he recognised the voice, there was no getting away from it now; he was going to have to sit near the girl with the blue hair.  
He stared down at his pasta and began shovelling into his mouth as fast as he could whilst not trying to look rude. A tray hit the table next to him and the bench he was sat on sunk under the weight of Izzy taking her place next to him.  
“How are you today?” Phil asked the girl.  
“Really great thanks Commander, I just love being out on a moving ship rather than stuck in a garage all day.” She answered making sure to emphasis the word ‘commander’ towards Dan.  
“I agree completely Izzy, I hate sitting in my office back at base, out here I feel like I am eventually doing some good rather than just pushing pencils.” Phil continued smiling at the girl, part of Dan hated him for being nice to this girl that obviously wasn’t the most loved person on this ship.  
“How about you Dan, how are you enjoying it so far?” Izzy asked. Dan tried to swallow the pasta his mouth was full of as quickly as possible but ended up almost choking.  
“Wow that good is it.” Izzy said sarcastically to Dan as he brought his coughing under control.  
Laughing it off Dan looked up at her “I am really enjoying it thanks, I am learning so much here and the beds are much more comfortable than the ones back at the academy.”  
“I bet they are” She replied making sure to maintain her sarcastic smile towards him, but Dan wasn’t giving in so easily and didn’t break eye contact with her.  
Phil gave the pair a confused look as they both smiled at each other in hatred with their eyes locked onto each other. “So what are you doing after diner Izzy?” he asked trying to break the two apart.  
“Oh you know, just this and that, the ship won’t look after itself. Well I at least hope it won’t or else I will be out of a job.” She eventually gave in and broke the eye contact to look back at Phil.  
Dan laughed back “Well we wouldn’t want that now would we.” He said to the blue haired girl sarcastically.  
“No we wouldn’t.” Phil interjected before Izzy could come back with another sarcastic remark.  
“Anyway looks like you have finished Dan, how about I go and show you that stuff.” Phil said standing up with his tray.  
“Yes I would love that Phil.” Dan answered mimicking his motions standing up with his tray, before leaving the table he shot a smug look back at Izzy which she responded with her usual sarcastic smile.  
Phil lead Dan to his office and took a seat on his swivel chair, he spun around once then waved his arms causing holograms to pop up around Dan. The younger boy immediately recognised the shape of his home planet hovering near his face, he wondered if it was a live feed and if he zoomed in far enough he would be able to see his family.  
“I know what you are thinking.” Phil said from across the room “Sadly our technology isn’t that advanced yet, I might be able to get you a picture of your family up though.”  
Quickly the holograms changed to a selection of files, Phil got out of his seat and started to move the files around, some he swept to the side which disappeared, others he expanded. Dan stood not so patiently waiting, if he could only see a picture of his family, just to know what they looked like.  
“Sorry Dan.” Phil said after a while “The outer regions aren’t that well catalogued so there is none on record.”  
Dan looked down at the floor in disappointment; well he would know what they were like soon enough when he saw them in real life. Phil looked at the sadness on the young boy’s face; he couldn’t bear to see him that unhappy.  
“Hey so how about I tell you about a planet made completely of jelly.” He said cheerfully.  
“Okay.” Dan answered excited at the prospect  
After his lesson Dan went back to his room to let Phil get some work done for a few hours.


	6. Shared With Me Too

Phil came into Dan’s room without bothering to knock first, Dan reading a piece of old paper that was yellowing with age. He was holding it gently as if he was hardly holding the paper at all, he hadn’t seemed to notice Phil and seemed too engrossed in his reading.  
“What are you reading?” Phil asked making Dan jump.  
Dan quickly folded up the paper and shoved it behind him, his face turned red with embarrassment as he looked up at Phil.  
“N-N-Nothing.” He stuttered.  
“Ermm… okay.” Phil said suddenly feeling very awkward.  
Eventually he went and sat next to Dan on his bed; looking at the young boy from this angle he could see a small tear on his face. This puzzled Phil even more to what he had been looking at before; Dan sat in silence for a long time before he eventually got up and went to his cupboard. He pulled out the box he had brought back from the academy and rested it on the bed between him and Phil.  
Breathing deeply he opened up the lid to reveal its contents to the dark haired boy. Phil looked at it puzzled; the box was full of small envelopes each was addressed to ‘Daniel James Howell, Cadet 2009, Government facility Alpha’.  
“These are all the letters that my parents wrote to me over the years that I was at the academy.” Dan revealed.  
“I thought you were enlisted as a form of payment?” Phil asked. At the academy there were a few recruits who were there because their parents couldn’t pay to look after them but weren't in debt so willingly sent their children away. These certain children were able to visit home occasionally and could write to their parents. The rest like Dan who were there because their parents owed money weren't allowed to have any contact with home.  
“Yes I was and that is why I shouldn’t have these” Dan said quietly “When I was 12 after the incident with the laundry room they started arriving to me, I always thought there was a mix up in the system and suddenly I was allowed mailing privileges. I stayed quiet and never wrote back to them because I didn’t want them to find out and correct the mistake.”  
“So for six years you have been getting these letters then?” Phil asked.  
Dan nodded silently, he suddenly began to regret sharing the information, what if he was reported and sent back to the academy?  
Instead though Phil draped an arm around the younger boy “You, Daniel Howell, never cease to amaze me.” He laughed “Most kids given that chance would boast about it or try to send something home, but you managed to keep it a secret all that time, you are wonderful.”  
Dan smiled back at Phil, he couldn’t believe that he could actually talk to someone about his life for once without the fear of saying something wrong. He pushed his head into the crook of Phil’s arm and swung his legs up onto the end of the bed.  
“Thank you.” Dan whispered softly.  
“What for?” Phil asked confused.  
“For being here for me, for understanding.” Dan answered smiling upwards towards the dark haired boy.  
“If there is anything I can do to help you out just ask Dan.” Phil replied “I will never not accept you for who you are.”  
Dan just smiled and snuggled back down into Phil’s chest; he could feel the older boy’s chest rising and falling and hear his heart beating loudly.  
******  
After this Dan spent more and more time with Phil, he occasionally went with Katie when Phil had important work to do but most of the time he spent sat in the corner of Phil’s office or on his bed with Phil. He didn’t know how he felt towards Phil exactly but he neither of them seemed to want to discuss it so it was fine left as it was.  
“I can’t wait till this mission is over.” Dan cheerfully said to Phil whilst sat on the end of his bed.  
“Why? Aren't you enjoying being here or something?” Phil asked jokingly poking the younger boy with his foot.  
“Yeah I really am enjoying it and stuff, but I want to go home and see my parents.” He carried on smiling.  
Phil smiled back at the brown haired boy, but his eyes told a different story as if he was almost sad to hear Dan say those words.  
“You are still going to take me aren’t you?” Dan asked panicked.  
“Yeah of course I will.” Phil answered shuffling towards Dan and putting his arm over him “I am going to keep you safe.”  
Dan smiled at the older boy; he couldn’t believe that he was so close to seeing his family again after not hearing from them in years. Would they still recognise him, would he still recognise them, would he be able to live back in his old home or would Phil have to move them all away to keep them safe?  
“So hey how about I teach you how to do a bit more driving of this piece of junk?” Phil asked.  
“Only if you don’t hover over me as much this time.” Dan joked.   
“If I didn’t do that I don’t think we would have a ship to fly in.” Phil laughed pushing himself off of his bed and leading Dan out of the room.  
The pair of boys arrived in the empty control room causing the lights to switch on lighting up the room. Phil walked up to the main table and shifted a few buttons, Dan followed him up and stood next to him, making sure to take note of what he was pressing on the screen encase Phil sprung a surprise test on him. Phil pointed to a lever nearby and Dan went over and pulled it down.  
“You ready?” Phil asked.  
“Yep.” Dan answered excitably.  
“Good.” Phil smiled at the younger boy “So if you take the power controls this time” Phil pointed to a series of levers situated at the end of the panel “When I shout a colour you pull that lever okay?”  
“Got it.” Dan said standing next to the levers in position as Phil took up steering.  
“Red!” Phil yelled causing Dan to pull down a large lever, as soon as it reached the bottom and clicked into place the ship shot forward, but Dan stayed perfectly still.  
“That is the g-force barrier.” Phil answered looking at Dan’s puzzled face, it allows the drivers to not fall over when they are driving, sadly though the rest of the ship members have just fallen over if they didn’t follow my instructions and strap themselves in. Try blue now.”  
Dan pulled a smaller lever that bounced up after he let it go, this caused the ship to begin to move in a circular motion.  
“You just turned off the right engine” Phil said “Now turn it back on.” Dan pulled the lever back down and it bounced back up allowing the ship to fly straight again.  
Phil continued to call out the names of colours as Dan pulled down the levers that matched, after each one he told the younger boy what the effects were. After a while he started telling him to accelerate and turn different engines off. A few times Dan got it the wrong way around but mostly he was learning how to control the massive ship.  
Eventually called out the red lever again and Dan pulled it back up, the ship went back into autopilot and Dan walked back over to Phil who was correcting a few settings that he had changed.  
“Thanks.” Dan smiled at him widely.  
“It’s okay.” Phil answered “At least we didn’t nearly crash this time.” He joked.  
“I didn’t nearly crash.” Dan defended himself “You just told me the wrong direction.”  
“Of course.” Phil laughed stepping away from the control panel putting his arm over Dan’s shoulder and walking towards the exit of the control room.


	7. Lying All Along

As the days went by Dan became more and more excited at the prospect of actually making contact with different beings, what would they be like? He was also growing more anxious about his journey home afterwards. Wanting to learn more information about his home planet so that he could feel more prepared, he went to look for Phil. Looking at the time of day he guessed that the dark haired boy would be in his office so he went there first.  
The door was slightly ajar when he got there and he could see the holograms whizzing around the room so he went in. Phil wasn’t there though; Dan guessed he had probably just gone out for a few minutes so decided to wait there for him. Plonking himself down on Phil’s chair he snuggled into the warmth that proved Phil had only left a few minutes ago. The chair smelled of Phil so he nuzzled his face into the soft fabric inhaling the sweet smell.  
Eventually Dan became bored so he started to pull out the hologram planets of the ones he liked and read about them. After a while of doing this he found a file right in the middle of the holograms that was labelled 'Incident Report 2012'.  
Intrigued Dan pulled out the file and opened it to read it, the file was marked 'Level 1 Security'. But it had been left open right in the middle of Phil's files. Dan looked around to see if anyone was watching knowing that he shouldn't be looking at it. There was no one in sight though so he opened the file by touching the middle causing the contents to spill out in front of him.  
Later Phil walked into the room; it was completely empty except for one open hologram file right in the middle. "Oh Shit!" He said before running out to find Dan.  
All Dan could think of was getting off the ship and away from these people, he didn't care that he couldn't drive the escape pods, he didn't even care if he died getting away. What was there left to live for? Only a few days ago he had been 'rescued' by a tall dark haired man who had taken him away from his prison of a life. This wonderful man had taught him about how amazing the universe was, he had always seen the good in everything even the most horrible of people. Izzy was wrong Dan wasn't Phil's pet; he was a sick way of trying to get forgiven for his acts. He had deceived and manipulated him this whole time.  
Dan couldn't cope anymore; he staggered into the nearest escape pod and locked the door. Curling up in a ball on the floor he let the tears roll down his face, waterfalls of salt water and endless sobbing echoed throughout the small craft.  
Meanwhile Phil was frantically running around the ship looking for the young boy, he checked his bedroom, the bathrooms, even the laundry room. Eventually he went to the flight deck, he didn't want to make any of this public but he needed to find Dan before he did anything stupid. 'Well it was too late for that' he thought 'he just had to open that file didn't he.'  
As Phil approached the flight deck Izzy came up to him.  
"Not now Izzy I need to find Dan and quick!" He almost shouted pushing her aside.  
"Lost your boyfriend have you?" She joked "I told you nothing good ever comes of these relationships."  
"Isobel Moseley" he ordered turning towards the blue haired girl, he was red in the face with anger "if you aren't going to help find a young vulnerable boy before he hurts himself I will personally show you the door, and on a ship floating in the middle of space millions of miles away from anything that is not a good idea."  
She looked shocked at Phil's sudden outburst of anger. "Well someone just bordered one of the escape pods." she said quietly not wanting to upset him anymore.  
"Oh Shit" Phil said under his breath running off in the direction of where Dan was hiding.  
Katie came up beside Izzy "What's up with him?" She asked.  
"Suits me" Izzy shrugged "domestic between him and Dan or something."  
"Oh Shit" Katie said running after Phil.  
"Why is everyone suddenly swearing?" Izzy mumbled under her breath before returning back to the control room.  
When Katie caught up with Phil he was banging on the door of an escape ship, he really could run fast when he wanted too.  
"Hey, what are you doing?" Katie went and stood between the escape pod and Phil.  
"Get out of the way" he tried to push her aside but she stayed in place.  
"I don't know what's going on here" she said calmly "but I know banging on this escape pod isn't going to work."  
Phil stepped back and looked ashamed with himself, he couldn't let Katie find out what he had done though.  
"Is Dan in there?" She asked to the answer of a nod "Okay I will get him out of there, he obviously doesn't want to be near you so go and find something useful to do."  
"I can't let you do that Katie." He said reaching behind him.  
"Yes you can and you will do" she replied confidently "I have already figured it out and the last thing you want to do is cover up a body as well as trying to keep this secret."  
He pulled his hand out from behind him leaving the gun in its holster. "How did you..?" He began to ask.  
"Let’s just say you need to use stronger passwords." she answered before shooing Phil off away from the escape pods.  
Phil reluctantly moved away and down the corridor just before he reached the end he turned back to look at Katie. "Go!" She shouted at him causing him to turn the corridor and disappear.  
When she was sure that Phil wasn't waiting around the corner she gently tapped on the door of the escape pod that Dan had locked himself in. "Hey kid can I come in?" She asked softly.  
Inside the pod Dan had heard the commotion and stopped crying to listen to what was going on. When Phil had gone away from the ship he felt much safer but still didn't trust Katie.  
"You knew and you didn't tell me." He managed to say through sobs.  
"Yes I did and I am sorry Dan, I only found out the other day and I knew how you would react so I didn't want to tell you till I could safely get you out of here." She answered looking down at the floor.  
"You think letting me fall in love with the man who murdered my parents then locked me up in a horrible training camp is protecting me!" He yelled at the door.  
"I couldn't get you out Dan not safely here; later when we get back into the centre of the quadrant I was going to help you escape and take you somewhere safe." She pleaded with him.  
Dan stayed silent, he didn't know what to say, who to trust or what was going to happen now. After what felt like hours he eventually spoke again. "So if I believe you, which I don't, what are you going to do now?"  
"Well for starters Phil isn't going to hurt you..." Katie started but Dan tried to interrupt "No Dan he is not going to hurt you, if he wanted to make sure what happened didn't get out, he would have pulled all of the air out of your pod."  
"But like you said, he doesn't want a body on his hands." Dan said trying to find to find a floor in Katie's theory.  
"And he wouldn't, simply chucking your body out of the airlock means that no one would know." Katie continued "There is no nice way to put this, but back at base no one would care about one missing cadet, Phil would just erase the paperwork and could even make it seem like you never existed..." Katie trailed off.  
"Just like he did with my parents." Dan almost whispered.  
“I am sorry Dan, I really am.” Katie said quietly pushing her face against the door.  
Dan fell silent, he felt so alone and helpless. Throughout his whole life he had been told what to do and how to do it. He had never had to think for himself before, he had become too reliant on constant instructions. In that moment Dan realised that it didn’t matter if he escaped the government's power over him he wouldn’t be able to survive a week without getting into a situation that he didn’t know what to do in.  
He pushed his limp body against the door of the ship and let his head roll back and rest against the cool surface. Phil had helped Dan pull himself together, but now he could only think that everything he told him was a way of manipulating him.  
Eventually the door of the escape pod opened, Dan stood inside the small room, saying that his face was tear stained would be an incredible understatement. His blotchy face looked up at Katie; Dan’s eyes were full of hurt and hatred.  
“Oh Dan.” Katie said running up and taking his limp body in her arms before he fell to the floor again.  
Resting his head on her lap he curled up his legs to his chest, he allowed the girl to pull her hands through his hair and straighten his hobbit like curls into a suitable style.  
“I don’t know what to do Katie?” Dan stifled through his tears.  
“You Daniel are going to do what you have always done.” Katie reassured him “You are going to be your brilliant self and make it through this. Dan you have been at the academy for longer than most people, what kept you going through all of that time?”  
Dan thought about this for a long time “Knowing that my parents would be there at the end to take me home and love me and tell me everything was going to be okay.” He sobbed.  
“Well that tells me that you always look for what’s coming at the end, you need something to believe in.” Katie looked around hoping for some inspiration, her glance then fell across the window and the black abyss outside.  
“You are going to live for adventure.” she announced “You and Phil always used to talk about where you were going to go once you were free and that is still going to happen okay.”  
Dan looked up at the girl in confusion; there was no chance his and Phil’s happy dreams of leaving everything behind and exploring were going to come true now. He didn’t even want to look at that monster again never mind go on holiday with him.  
“I don’t mean you are going to go with Phil though, me and you are going to see the stars and everything they have to offer, we are going to travel for the rest of our lives and not worry what is at the end of it all.” Katie smiled hopefully at the young boy.  
Dan thought for a minute at the proposition, he still really wanted to go on that trip maybe it could work with Katie. They were after all good friends and she knew the outer quadrants better than anyone so she would be a great tour guide.  
“Yeah okay.” Dan said sniffing back his tears.


	8. Listen To My Song

“I think you should talk to Phil.” Katie said whilst sat at the end of his bed.  
Dan looked at the girl with a face of hatred “Why the fuck would I do that!?” He almost yelled.  
“You need to hear him out Dan.” She said sincerely “If you hate him for the rest of your life I don’t blame you, but it you hate him without hearing his story completely you will eventually find yourself hating yourself as well.”  
Dan gulped, some part of him hoped that there had been a mistake about all of this and even if there wasn’t Dan needed to hear him say it. After all he had been through he deserved to hear it directly, didn’t he? Before he could allow himself to talk him out of it he stood up.  
“Okay I will do it.” He said in a monotone voice.  
“I will see you in the mission control room in half an hour.” Katie said smiling and running out of his room.  
Dan sat at the end of the bed and breathed deeply, he was going to sit and listen and that was it, no conversation just the statement and that was it.  
Phil sat the other side of the table from Dan, he had never looked so small as he almost cowered from the younger boy’s hard stare. His limp body hadn’t seen sleep in days and his face was puffy with tears. Dan almost felt sorry for him, but then he remembered what Phil had done to him, he deserved to suffer.  
“I am sorr…” Phil began.  
“No that is not going to do!” Dan almost yelled “You are going to sit here and tell me the whole story and that’s it!”  
Phil nodded nervously at Dab’s sudden outburst.  
“It all started back on Glotheen, I am the younger Son of the Plants leader, you were the Son of one of the poor family’s that my family ruled over.” Phil began “When I was younger I used to sneak out play with the other kids my age that included you Dan. We were good friends and always met up near the old town square and play on the dunes outside of town. As I got older, my parents started restricting me and keeping me indoors as they forced me into learning about all the politics and stuff so that I would be able to help my brother run the planet when they were gone.  
“When you were 11 your parents lost their jobs as we introduced droids who could do their jobs better than any human worker could. This lead to your parent’s debts growing as they couldn’t afford to look after you and your younger brother. But they refused to send you away, they were going to keep you at home and happy for as long as they could. But this wasn’t for much longer as when you turned 12 I, a 16 year old child of the most important family on the planet, was told to go and take you and your brother away to a training academy.  
“Your parents weren't having any of it though; they tried to protect you, to stop us from taking you away.” Phil began to tear up at the memory. “I shot them.” He almost whispered.  
“I can’t remember what happened one minute you were all stood there the next your parents were on the ground with blood pouring out of their chest and there was a gun in my hand.” Phil paused trying to pull himself together. “I managed to hit your brother as well in all the commotion and you were the only one left there. You tried to run but I caught you and took you away. You wouldn’t speak to me and hated me, very rightly I must say.  
“We managed to cover up your family's murders by making it like they never existed, they wanted to kill you as well to make sure it didn’t get out what had happened but I managed to stop them. Instead we had to memory wipe you, we made it so that you thought you had been in the academy since you were four years old.  
“I then got a high up job in the same station you were and kept an eye on you, I helped you out of any trouble you got into. I even sent you letters as your parents; I just wanted you to have something to live for. Every day I was there you were my top priority; all I needed was to keep you safe."  
“So when you ended up outside 'cadet exclusion’ I had to keep you safe, I figured the only way to do that was to take you with me. I tried to be your friend again Dan, I tried to make it seem like I wasn’t at fault for everything, and I just needed you to forgive me.” Phil broke down in tears as he concluded his sad tale.  
Dan stared at him emotionless at the statement he had been given “What were you going to do after all of this was over then?” Dan asked.  
“I was going to take you back to our home planet, I was going to forge paperwork to explain away your parent’s deaths that is why I had the file open the other day, and I was going to take you away from this horrible place and keep you safe.”  
“That is disgusting.” Dan spat out at him before abruptly turning around and exiting the room.  
Katie caught up with Dan halfway down the corridor “Hey I really think you should talk to Phil.” She suggested.  
“I did Katie.” He almost shouted angrily.  
“No he talked at you and explained everything, you sat and listened, you needed to do more conversing and actually talk together about the problem.” she continued.  
Dan quickly turned around and pushed Katie’s small body up against the wall, his eyes were full of rage and when he spoke he spat his words “I sat and I listened to that useless piece of shit’s story that is all that I am doing. I don’t want to know him and I don’t want to be his friend, I want to get back home and show the whole fucking universe what sort of person Phil Lester really is!” With that he stormed off down the corridor pushing a cleaner into the wall as he walked by.  
Katie stared after the boy trying to catch her breath; a single tear began to roll down her cheek.


	9. I Lay Waiting

As the day came to a close once more, Phil settled down to bed, his face red from tears and heavy with sleep, he was on the verge of falling asleep. But no matter what he did he stayed just on the verge not able to take that final step to drift away for a few hours and forget everything. He accepted he would be spending another night awake with his guilt and looked out into the blackness that flew past his window.  
The other side of the ship another boy sat awake, Dan was still filled with rage and couldn’t even begin to think of sleep. What if Phil came and murdered him whilst he was vulnerable just like he had done with his parents. His blood boiled at the thought. He wondered what Phil was doing now, probably plotting how he was going to cover up his mistake now since his tactic of manipulating Dan by crying hadn’t worked. Part of Dan knew that even thinking about Phil was too good for him, but at the same time he couldn’t stop the images of the horrid man from swimming across his mind.


	10. Leave Me Behind

The day to touching down on the alien planet got closer and closer, Dan was back on speaking terms with Katie and had apologised for his outburst. He became worried though, as soon as Katie left the ship his only defence against the people on board would be gone, just the thought of being left alone again in a place where everyone wanted him dead made him shudder.  
Dan had not seen Phil since their last encounter, but still he could not shake the image of the boy from his mind. In a way he missed looking at his pale face and losing himself in the rich blue eyes, but he couldn’t look at him that way now without seeing the blood of his parents splashed across his face.  
Dan made up his mind; he swung his legs off of his bed and began to walk confidently down the corridor to where Phil's office was. Without stopping he pushed open the door and entered much to the surprise of the dark haired boy who was currently curled up in his chair.  
“Dan!” He greeted the younger boy cheerfully, but it didn’t take long for him to notice the sour look on Dan’s face to realise this wouldn’t be a happy reunion.  
“I am going to the planet's surface with Katie when we get there.” He stated in a monotone voice. “Any problems with that?”  
“Well I can’t really...” Phil trailed off. “Yeah that should be fine.”  
“Good.” Said Dan turning to leave.  
“Hey Dan!” Phil shouted after him but it was too late, the brown haired boy was gone.  
Dan set off for the control office to tell Katie next, on the way he passed Izzy who stopped him in his path. Realising he hadn’t actually seen the girl since before he had found out about Phil’s past he was actually relieved he hadn’t bumped into her earlier when he was much less relaxed, but still he certainly didn’t want to talk to her now. He tried to move around her and avoid looking at her.  
“Not so fast Daniel.” Izzy said “I want a word with you.”  
“Well sadly the feeling isn’t mutual, I need to go I have to talk to Katie.” Dan pleaded.  
“Your girlfriend can wait.” She said in her usual sarcastic tone, the word “girlfriend” made Dan cringe, Katie was just a friend and the only person who actually looked out for him, that was where their relationship ended.  
“So you found out some stuff about Phil’s past I gather.” Izzy began “I am actually very intrigued as to what bad stuff the 'oh so perfect' commander has been up to, but that can wait. The fact is now you know what I was saying at the beginning was true, don’t get involved with him, he has too much power and although it may seem like he is innocent at times you never know what’s going on behind your back."  
“Even though I did warn you and this is your entire fault I am still going to help you out because I am a nice person like that. When we get back home you will be back in the empire's clutches again and there will be no one to help you, before we reach the main asteroid belt, get into one of the escape pods and fly away, the controls are basic even you will be able to work it out. I will cover it up from within the ship until you are far enough away to not be able to be dragged back in, also I will remove the tracker from your pod to stop a trail from being made.”  
Dan stood there shocked at Izzy’s sudden help, he couldn’t help thinking she had an ulterior motive but he wasn’t going to risk losing the help.  
“Thanks.” He stuttered out “But why are you helping me?”  
“Because a long time ago a mysterious dark haired boy whisked me off my feet and told me everyone deserves a second chance.” She smiled at him “Admittedly he was an asshole, but he still has a special place in my heart and it was pretty good advice.”  
With that Izzy carried on down the corridor as if nothing had happened, Dan looked up and saw a security camera looking straight at him and smiled. Izzy was good with technology and if anyone could get him out of here it was her, maybe for once he should actually trust her.


	11. Saved You Every Time

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Phil asked Dan concerned as he handed him his backpack.  
“Yeah of course.” Dan said gruffly avoiding eye contact.  
“Ready?” Katie asked coming up beside him.  
Dan turned to smile at the other girl “Do you need to ask.”  
“Well, see you two at the other end.” Phil said trying to join in.  
“Hmm.” Was the only answer he got.  
Dan followed Katie and the others down the descending walkway and out onto the planet's surface. They had already tested the environment using the ship's sensors and knew that they were safe to walk without breathing gear.  
The dark red colour of the ground almost shimmered in the bright sunlight that fell in large beams from the two suns that hovered overhead. The crew broke off into pairs and set off in different directions, Dan and Katie went together heading towards a large mountain. In front of the pair of adventurers the landscape rolled in hills and dips that seemed to stretch on forever.  
Katie reached down to the ground and pushed a contraption into the soil, the red surface cracked as the hard shell was broken and when it she pulled it out, the soft layers could be seen in the glass tube. Dan took the glass jar from Katie and put it into his backpack as Katie reloaded to take another sample.  
They continued to walk along the planet's surface stopping every so often to allow Katie to shove her device back into the ground. Dan was enjoying the absolute silence that blanketed the pair of them. This was the first time he hadn’t had to contend with the ship's engines or constant noise of the crew since he had left the base. He welcomed the time to clear his head and think whilst also being surrounded by the beautiful landscape.  
His first thoughts were to Phil, the dark haired boy who had taken pity on him only a few days ago, it felt like an eternity had passed since then. Would he really be able to escape with Katie, would Phil hunt them down, what was his future? All these questions raced across his head so quickly he couldn’t keep track. Maybe it was best not to think about the commander for once, maybe he could just think about himself.  
He started making a mental list of things he would like to see and do when he escaped, firstly he wanted to see as many planets as possible and as many lifeforms. Dan wanted to know more about the universe he lived in, why sit at home and let it all pass you by when you could be sailing across the stars meeting new creatures. He also wanted to help people in need, maybe he would save children from going too the academy and take them with him on his adventures, Dan quickly scrubbed the images out of his mind, that was maybe a bit too fairy-tale for him.  
Before long the pair reached the mountain, it towered high above them so that Dan had to strain his neck to attempt to see the top, although this was hidden behind red clouds. Between the rocky hillsides was a selection of openings that were pitch black, Dan stopped in his tracks, he had a bad feeling about entering a dark cave on a planet with killer aliens.  
“No need to be scared.” Katie said stopping to turn back to Dan “There are no lifeforms within our area.” She showed him a small device she was carrying, on it where two small dots in the centre.  
“O-O-Okay” Dan stuttered walking slowly to catch up with Katie.  
The pair walked through the cave opening into the inky blackness that lay beyond, Katie switched on a torch that hung off of her jacket and Dan mirrored her actions giving the pair two spots of light to follow. They continued to do soil checks and occasionally Katie would use another device to check the air, after a while she even gave Dan the device to take the soil samples. As they got deeper and deeper into the cave Dan started to think that it would never end, he seemed to have been walking forever and he was starting to wonder what the outside was actually like. His train of thought was broken by a crackling coming from his radio.  
“Finished and heading back.” A voice announced.  
“Okay Caleb.” Katie answered “I am see you back at base soon.”  
A few more people rang in to say they were returning in the next 10 minutes until Dan counted that him and Katie were the only two left. That is when they heard the first scream.  
Across their radio a high pitched yelling started but was quickly cut off and replaced with static, Dan looked at Katie with panicked eyes. “Hey Caleb what’s going on?” she asked quickly across the radio, but there was no reply.  
“Hey I can see a body” another voice answered “I-I-I think it’s Caleb.”  
“Oh God.” Katie muttered. “Everyone return to the ship as fast as they can.” she ordered across the radio.  
But it was too late more screams started to echo through Dan’s radio, tears started to pool in his eyes at the sound of every scream which was suddenly cut off marking another death. “They aren’t letting us go back.” A voice managed to yell over the radio before once again cutting off.  
When there was no more sound and no replies from anyone, as Katie tried to contact them all multiple times, the young girl stood and looked Dan in the eye. We are going to have to continue, it is our only way out.” she said sternly.  
Dan nodded in response; he couldn’t talk out of fear, never before had he been this scared for his life.  
“They must have found a way to block the lifeforms device” Katie whispered “But how about the garlic; we are covered in the stuff.”  
“Katie.” A voice crackled over the radio, Dan recognised the gentle sound of Phil talking.  
“They are all dead Phil.” Katie cried.  
“I know I heard.” Phil replied, Dan could hear the commander's voice cracking “I don’t think the garlic works and those lifeform detectors definitely don’t, something's wrong here and you are blocked off from coming back to the ship. I will try and find out as much as I can but all you can do is continue, if you try to come back you will be ripped to shreds.”  
Dan couldn’t believe what he was hearing, he was trapped on a planet with killer aliens and no way of defending himself, suddenly he wished he was back at the academy where all he had to worry about was whether he would have to do physical training.  
“Hey Dan.” Phil said quietly.  
“Yes.” Dan quivered.  
“If this is the last time I ever get to talk to you I just want to say I truly am sorry.” Phil continued, Dan could hear the tears falling down the older boys face.  
“I know.” Dan replied softly.  
Dan’s eyes were wide with panic as they journeyed deeper into the cave, Katie seemed completely oblivious to the shadows that were moving around behind them as they walked deeper into the cave. “Hey Katie, I don’t think this is safe?” Dan whispered to her whilst he kept looking around.  
“Dan what have I told you, if you don’t take any risks in this line of work you don’t get anywhere, and it is our only way” She answered trying to sound confident, but Dan noticed the slight quiver in her voice she knew there was no way out of this by going back, it was either carry on forward and hope that they could get out with their lives or get ripped to shreds.  
“Okay I am with you.” Dan tried to sound confident to comfort the girl, but knew that there was no way anything could make their situation better. He reached down and squeezed her hand in reassurance.  
“Dan I just wanted to say you are one of the best people I have ever met.” Katie continued “I just want you to know that you are important no matter what you think.” Dan continued to stare straight ahead, but could sense the silent tears falling down Katie’s face next to him.  
“Katie, you are the best friend I have ever had, I can’t even begin to describe how much you have helped me.” Dan sniffled holding tighter to Katie’s hand.  
“Daniel James Howell.” Katie said stopping and pulling the young boy so that he was looking straight at her “when you get out of this…” Dan tried to interrupt but Katie kept going “No let me finish, when you get out of this I want you to go to Phil and tell him how you feel, don’t resent him for what he did he was only trying to protect you.”  
“But…” Dan started.  
“No buts, you are going to go and tell that wonderful man that you love him.” She said through the tears that were pouring down her face now.  
“But how about that trip we planned, the one where we run away and never come back.” Dan stifled through his sobs.  
“It was never our dream Dan, it was yours and Phil’s and you are going to live it with him.” Katie said whilst trying desperately to stop crying.  
Dan tried to reply but couldn’t find the right words to say.  
“And one last thing Dan.” She said “Run!” with that she smiled the saddest and happiest smile that Dan had ever seen and set off running in the direction from which they had come.  
“KATIE!” Dan screamed after the girl as the shadows started emerging from behind the rocks. He felt helpless to help the girl who was dodging the creatures as they flung themselves at her body.  
He began to run away from her as fast as his legs could carry him. His heart beat at a million miles an hour as he leaped over stray rocks on the cavern floor. Behind him he could hear Katie’s screams, but he couldn’t turn back, not now, there was no saving the girl, she had given her life for him and he wasn’t going to let that sacrifice be in vain.  
Eventually he began to run up the hill. As he reached the crest, he could see the ship sitting ready to greet both of them, his heart sank knowing that Katie could never board it, but he continued allowing his legs to go into autopilot as he got closer to it. The scream from behind him had stopped, but the war call of the creatures had begun, they were coming at him faster than he could run away. He didn’t give up though, there was no way he was going to let them kill him.  
In the distance the ships runway lowered and a tall figured leaped off it and ran towards Dan. He could recognise Phil’s stick thin figure coming towards him, he had never been happier to see him in his life. The young boy began to slow as the exhaustion kicked in, the creatures were right on his heals he could almost feel their breath on the back of his neck.  
That last thing Dan remembered was the older boy pulling out a gun from his belt and shooting a net of electricity to the left of him.


	12. Just You and I

When Dan woke up the first thing he noticed was how tired he felt, the second thing was Phil looking over at him. He noticed the ship’s captain had large bags under his eyes, he also sensed that he had been crying as his face was grubby with dust and tear stains.  
“Hey buddy, how are you doing there?” Phil asked in his comforting voice.  
Dan opened his mouth to answer but his throat was too dry for him to let out any other sound than a hollow croak. Phil quickly passed a glass of water over to him and helped him to drink it in small sips. The feeling of Phil’s gentle hands on his face as he helped him drink filled Dan’s body with a warm sensation.  
“You shot them.” Dan simply stated.  
“I had no choice Dan; they were going to kill you.” Phil answered looking down to the floor and feeling ashamed of himself.  
Dan smiled sadly in response and pulling his weak arm over the older boy he nuzzled his face into his shoulder. Phil looked up at him in surprise and pulled Dan closer whilst making sure he didn’t hurt the damaged younger boy.  
After what felt like an eternity Phil eventually pulled away, “You need to get some rest; I will be here though when you wake up.” He said.  
Dan wanted to argue and tell Phil that there was nothing more important than being here with him right now, but he didn’t have the energy and quickly fell asleep.  
Dan dreamed of the events back in the cavern, Katie’s last words were on repeat in his head. He pictured the young girl’s face, every freckle he studied in detail and carefully placing it on her face in his mind. He remembered the way her hair used to wave in the breeze, how her smile used to brighten up her whole face making the area around her feel brighter. Then he remembered her dirt covered face telling him to run as she sacrificed herself for him.  
Her screams rattled around inside his brain as those creatures tore her apart like a worthless toy, he thought about how he could have turned back to help. How he could have saved her. She was the one who deserved to live, not him.  
The next time he woke up, all the happiness from seeing Phil again had drained from him. All he could think of was Katie. It was as if her face was etched in his mind, seemingly for all eternity, and there was no escaping the raging guilt that courses through his entire body.  
Phil was there as he had promised, he smiled as the brown haired boy's eyes opened, but when he saw the upset on his face, Phil quickly felt sad again. He looked at the boy that he loved and only saw pain on his face, all he wanted to do was comfort him, but he didn’t know if Dan had actually forgiven him.  
“Can I go back to my room now?” Dan asked as if all the happiness had been drained out of his body.  
“Ermm…” Phil looked around “Yeah of course.” He said “But you are going to have to go careful on those legs.”  
Dan sat up and looked at the room he was in; he recognised it as the hospital bay from his tour around the ship, that first day felt like it was an eternity away from where he was now. Phil helped him up onto his feet and guided him out of the room. On the other side of the door there was a crowd of people. When Dan exited, they all looked down at their feet and avoided eye contact with the smaller boy.  
Dan wanted to collapse and cry, he wanted to tell them all how sorry he was, he wanted to beg for their forgiveness, but all he could do was walk past them and allow Phil to guide him back to his room.  
After Phil helped Dan to lie down on his bed he hovered over him not sure whether to stay or go, eventually he left and closed the door on his way out.  
Phil sunk to the floor in the corridor and began to sob into his knees which he had pulled up tightly to his chest. He didn’t know what to do anymore, where was he meant to go from this, he had failed his mission, he had lost the most promising of his crew members, he shot at the Katherneeting and probably caused a war because of it. But worst of all he had fallen in love with a young boy, a young boy whose family he had killed in cold blood.  
Eventually Phil picked himself up off the floor and walked to his room, he came across a few crew members in the corridor but all stayed out of his way as the fully grown man stumbled to his room with tears pouring down his face.  
After lying on his bed for hours, Phil realised he hadn’t eaten in 48 hours. So, he pulled himself up to go to the canteen to get some food. Phil picked up a couple of sandwiches and two packets of crisps and head towards Dan’s room.  
Phil found Dan curled up in a ball in his room, his muffled sobs could be heard from outside in the corridor. The older boy sat next to Dan on one end of the bed and put the food down on Dan’s shelf; he then gently rested his hand on Dan’s head and pushed his hand through the messy knotted brown hair.  
Dan pushed his body closer towards Phil and rested his head on the older boys lap. “Phil I forgive you.” He said through his sobs and nestled himself into Phil’s warm body.  
“Thank you” Phil answered allowing his tears to fall down his face. He pulled his arm around the younger boy and pulled him up so that his head rested on his chest as they both lay on Dan’s bed.  
Dan concentrated on Phil’s breathing pattern and allowed his to mimic it; he closed his eyes and let the darkness overwhelm his body. Phil did the same and they both lay together in silence as the universe flew past them.  
The pair sat on Dan’s bed and ate in silence; this was broken though by a knock on Dan’s door. Phil sighed and then opened it to reveal Izzy. Dan noticed that she wasn't sporting her usual sarcastic smile; instead she looked genuinely sad, even her hair didn’t look as lively as usual.  
“Hey Phil” she said “It looks like they are following us, I don’t want to interrupt, but unless we do something we are going to get blown to pieces.”  
“Oh shit!” Phil exclaimed “it’s my entire fault I am so sorry.” He stood up and began to go towards the door. Dan grabbed his arm before he could leave though.  
“No it is my fault; you wouldn’t have needed to shoot at them if it wasn’t for me.” He pulled himself off of his bed “I am going to help and there is nothing you can do about it.”  
Phil smiled at the brown haired boy and pulled him into to the corridor and towards the flight deck.


	13. Against the Universe

When they at the flight arrived everyone was in full panic mode running around and trying to figure out what to do. As soon as Phil and Dan entered the room it went silent and they all looked at him. Phil walked up to the top of the flight deck and looked down at all of his crew.  
“We lost Katie and I couldn’t be more upset about it, and all of this is the government's fault, they knew this lifeform was intelligent, they knew garlic didn’t work on them and they knew they were undetectable on these devices. I don’t know what they were up to but we need to make it through this and make them accountable for their actions” He began “Katie sacrificed herself to not only save Dan but to save all of us, we are not going to let that sacrifice be in vain. I am going to get everyone one of you out of this ship alive and that is a promise. So let’s not forget Katie now and instead remember her, remember her smart brilliant mind, remember what she would have done in this position. She would have pulled through and got out alive, because in the end that is all that matters.”  
Izzy stood up out of the reluctant crowd “I am with you.” This was the followed by Dan standing next to Izzy “I am too.” Izzy smiled at the younger boy, for once they agreed on something. After that cheers of help came from within the crowd till everyone was stood up and prepared to fight, even if a few were still a little reluctant.  
“Thank you.” Phil mouthed to Izzy before turning to the rest of the crew “Now everyone to their stations, we are going to go into attack motion 2022.  
Dan ran up to the flight deck with Phil as everyone stared scattering, Phil pointed at a lever in front of him “Hold that down Dan and don’t let go until I say so.”  
“Yes Sir.” Dan replied pulling down the lever so that it was in position. Phil ran to the other controls and gave other people directions, he utilised all the staff he could and even the cleaners were either flying the ship or operating some sort of weapon by the time he had finished.  
Izzy came up behind Dan “Hey kid, what you did back there was pretty amazing” she said to him “Maybe you aren’t just another one of Phil’s pets after all.”  
“Thanks” Dan answered “I am sorry that I made things difficult.”  
“It's fine, I just couldn’t let go of what was clearly over.” With that Izzy ran off to do something.  
The ship began to spin in shapes as the Katherneetings ship got closer, the banging of weapons being fired at the pursuers rattled through the metal shell. “It isn’t working!” Dan heard Phil yell from the other side of the flight deck.  
“Phil its okay” Dan shouted back “You don’t need to save the universe, save the people who are here now, save the ones that are willing to die.” Phil looked over to the younger boy, but he no longer saw a small awkward child who was constantly getting into trouble, instead he saw a battle worn adult who had learned the dangers of the universe.  
“Everyone to the escape pods.” He ordered, some more reluctant than others ran out of the flight deck and down out of the corridor, Dan stayed in position though holding the lever.  
“Dan, get out of here!” Phil screamed.  
“Not until you do.” He shouted back.  
“Someone needs to keep the ship stable.” Phil yelled back.  
“Then that can be the two of us.” Dan replied picking up the other controls that the other crew members were holding before leaving.  
“Count me in for saving everyone else.” Izzy’s voice piped up from the other side of the room.  
“I hate both of you.” Phil replied jokingly.  
“No you love both of us and we love you and that is why we are sticking together.” Izzy laughed.  
“Well here is to the rest of our very short lives.” Phil said as he pushed down a lever causing the nose to quickly dive.  
Dan could see the escape ships leaving in front of them, he wished he was on one himself, but then he remembered what Katie had told him before she had died. He was important and this was the important thing he was doing, he was protecting the rest of the universe from the cruel government by letting everyone find out what they are really up to.  
“Right so there are two ships after us, we are going to let them get destroyed in their own crossfire, but this means that we are going to end up dying right in the middle of it.” Phil explained.  
“That’s okay with me.” Dan replied.  
“Their weapons are about to engage.” Izzy yelled from the other side of the room.  
“Here we go then.” Phil answered “Dan…” he stuttered “I love you.”  
Before Dan had time to answer though the sound of the Katherneetings ship's weapons activating clocked out all noise. That split second was so loud and so silent all at the same time; the Universe appeared to stand still as the guns started firing.  
The first blow was the worst, Dan pulled his arms over his head to try to protect himself, and Phil ended up lying on the floor as he desperately attempted to keep the ship steady. Crawling across the floor to where Dan was crouched Phil pulled his arms over the cowering boy and pulled him out.  
Dodging dewberry that was falling from the ship's infrastructure, he pulled both of them out of the main control room and down the corridor. As soon as they were clear of the control room Phil pulled Dan up to his feet.  
Back in the control room Dan could see a head of blue hair dart past “IZZY!!!” He screamed.  
“Just go you two, get out of here I will hold them off as long as I can, but it won’t be forever.” She shouted back in reply “Someone needs to get rid of these monsters.”  
“I am not leaving someone to those horrible beasts again.” Dan tried to run up, but his path was blocked by debris.  
“Oh yes you are.” She answered “You look after Phil; if any harm comes to him my ghost will hunt you down Daniel.”  
“I promise.” He stifled through the tears.  
“Thank you.” Phil said to Izzy.  
“No problem Captain, now you two RUN!” That was the second time someone had shouted that to Dan in the last few days. This time he didn’t even falter, but pushed on through the ship.  
The second shock wave came next knocking the two boys over, a piece of the ship's infrastructure fell onto Dan’s head opening up a gaping wound. He tried to carry on though through the ship trying to reach the escape pods. Phil put his arm under Dan’s and tried to help the injured boy along.  
“Dan your box” Phil yelled over the sound of the ship break apart  
“It doesn’t matter” Dan replied, “It is just stuff, it is all in the past and the past is something I need to forget.”  
Dan pulled on trying to carry on, but soon he dropped to the floor unable to keep upright from his newly gained wound. Phil pulled the younger boy up and tried to carry on, he was determined not to let him go, but was struggling to carry on himself. After a few minutes Dan tried to carry himself again seeing the strain he was putting on Phil. He dragged behind the older boy, but kept hold of his hand.  
Phil pulled Dan through the corridor trying to keep his balance as the ship rocked up and down. Dan’s head was bleeding even more now, Phil knew that he had to desperately get Dan some medical help, but there was no way they could get out of the ship with him in this state.  
He suddenly felt a tug on his arm and his heart sank, looking behind him Dan had fallen onto the floor as blood continued to pour out of his head wound. Quickly Phil crouched down to the young boy and held his head in his lap.  
“Come on Dan, don’t leave me please.” He begged with tears in his eyes as Dan became weaker and weaker.  
He suddenly thought back to when he first met this young boy back at base, how even with a broken nose he was the most beautiful thing he had seen. Phil thought about when Dan had stood in front of the panel deciding his fate and how scared he had looked, he remembered standing up for the young boy and saving him.  
“I didn’t let you go then Dan even though it was the easy option, I am not prepared to let you go now.” Phil sobbed burying his face in the young boy’s hair.  
Quickly he pulled a medi-pack from the wall with his right hand whilst holding his head with his other one. He then pulled out a syringe and plunged it into his soft skin, Dan leapt up at the rush of adrenaline pulsing throughout his body. But Phil kept him stable and quickly dressed his head wound with a large arraignment of different bandages and plasters.  
“Phil” Dan croaked.  
“Shhh!” Phil whispered to him “We are going to get out of here. I promise you.”  
“I love you.” Dan coughed out before slipping back again into silence.  
Phil’s smile reached from ear to ear and a single tear rolled down his face, after all this time he had eventually found someone who loved him for who he was. “I love you too.” Phil whispered to Dan whilst finishing off dressing his wound.  
He then slung the medi-pack over his shoulder and picked up Dan’s limp body in his arms and carried down the corridor making sure to keep his balance on the crashing ship.  
Eventually after what felt like hours, but in reality were only a few minutes, they reached the escape pods. There were two of them left, Phil went towards the nearest one and whilst trying to keep Dan stable he pushed the button on the outside of the door and ran into the small escape ship. After carefully laying down his cargo he went over to the controls and programmed the ship to fly away as fast as he could.  
A few hours later Dan woke up, he was laid on a small bed, his head burned like hell, but he felt safe. Looking over to Phil sat near the controls of the escape ship he smiled, there was the boy he had fallen in love with, the boy who had saved his life.  
Pushing himself off of the bed, he walked over to Phil who looked up at him with a smile. Phil then pulled his tired body out of the chair and leaned closer to the younger boy resting his forehead against his.  
“Thank you.” Dan whispered before pulling Phil into a long drawn out kiss, he put his arms around Phil’s neck and ran his fingers through his dark hair.  
Phil wrapped his arms around Dan’s waist and whispered into his ear “Any time.” Before he pushed his face back into Dan’s.


End file.
